With President Bush in town to discuss his plan to curb illegal immigration, perhaps the time is right to press him on border issues of a different kind -- like how the U.S. is responsible for fueling the illegal immigration it's working so hard to control.
While Bush reclines at the Biltmore for a day, pondering an issue lawmakers can't agree on, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans will end shifts in border sweatshops owned by Fortune 500 companies (according to Amnesty and Corpwatch), with a few dollars pay to show for it.
One might expect that the corporations controlling America would bring some progress to Mexico. But instead, they bring, at best, countless underpaid jobs and, at worst, a dangerous atmosphere of hostility against women.
In Juarez, Mexico, for example, over 300 young women and girls have been raped, tortured and murdered on their way to and from work at these factories. Although theories abound, no one really knows who is responsible for these crimes, which remain largely uninvestigated despite pleas and protests from grieving families.
The 80 Fortune 500 companies that run factories in Juarez are not directly responsible for raping and mutilating these hundreds of women. But they are responsible for creating an environment that fosters such vicious crimes.
Their practice of hiring female workers who can be paid less than men has redefined masculinity in Juarez. It's a city where men, traditionally the breadwinners, are largely unemployed. When a teenage girl is suddenly responsible for supporting her family in an intensely patriarchal society, she risks garnering the hostility of men in her community. Her femininity and sexuality come into question.
Though this is a byproduct of industrialization and not exclusively the fault of American-run factories, these businesses still have a responsibility to protect their female workers.
Instead, most of these factories run 24 hours a day, meaning that women who don't earn enough to take a cab must walk or hitchhike to work in the dark. Only Alcoa, a company that produces aluminum, provides monitored transportation for its workers, according to Amnesty International.
Apparently, most of these companies don't feel the need to protect their workers in the same way. The president of Electrocomponentes de Mexico, which produces parts for General Electric, even told Mexican Labor News and Analysis that they "have been consistent with the other plants in our area as far as offering competitive wages and benefits, we offer sports teams and that sort of thing. We feel we treat our employees very well."
But not well enough to ensure safe transportation for Irma Rosales, a 13-year-old employee who was raped and suffocated with a plastic bag on her way home from work.
Under such conditions, who wouldn't want to cross the border to safely make $5.15 an hour instead of risking one's life to earn $4 a day?
Although Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, has done little to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice, it isn't beyond the scope of President Bush or local lawmakers. In fact, California Rep. Hilda Solis and New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman introduced a House and Senate concurrent resolution expressing congressional concern and proposing a set of actions to deal with the feminicide.
With the president in town and bringing national attention to local border issues, it is the perfect time to write to local congressional representatives urging them to cosponsor the resolution.
And if you attend any of the numerous protests staged today, speak against the giant corporations who breed the causes of illegal immigration: poverty, poor quality of life and unsafe communities.
Catherine Traywick is a journalism and English literature junior. Reach her at catherine.traywick@asu.edu.
