How much Does Mexican Economy Drive Immigration?
PILGRIM: A Mexican businessman may have supplanted Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man. Carlos Slim is said to be worth more than $60 billion. And as Lisa Sylvester reports, it is a glaring example of the lopsided distribution of wealth in Mexico.</s>LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are two Mexicos, one of abject poverty. Twenty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and nearly 10 percent lives on less than $1 a day, according to figures from the United Nations. The other Mexico is thriving. Pesos and dollars are abundant. The world of the elite class. Among them is Carlos Slim, a Mexican billionaire who, according to Reuters, has a bigger fortune than even Bill Gates, making him now the richest man in the world.</s>CAROL GRAHAM, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: In Latin America, where inequality has been so deep and persistent, inequality signals to most people, at least according to my research, persistent advantage for the rich and persistent disadvantage for the poor. It's not a signal of equal opportunity.</s>SYLVESTER: Mexico's wealth gap has been closing in the last decade, but not fast enough. The North American Free Trade Agreement led to farmers leaving for factories in the north, only for those job opportunities to close off when jobs moved to lower wage countries like China. The nation's poverty crisis is fueling illegal immigration to the United States. The group NumbersUSA calls it exporting poverty, a trend that cannot continue.</s>ROY BECK, NUMBERSUSA: What we saw in the Senate last month was the workers and the working neighborhoods in the United States rising up and saying, no more. We are not going to pay the cost of Mexico's mismanagement of their economy. You are not going to be able to offload forever.</s>SYLVESTER: Mexico's president Felipe Calderon has recently instituted new anti-poverty programs. But policy experts say until Mexico takes charge of its own future with structural changes, reforming its education system, and ending corruption, Mexico will continue to be a divided country.</s>SYLVESTER: We see the images of poverty in Mexico, but the truth is Mexico has more billionaires than Switzerland, according to Forbes magazine. Policy analysts say with the natural resources and wealth in Mexico, its leaders can do a lot more to create opportunities within Mexico, ending the incentive for its citizens to come to the United States illegally -- Kitty.</s>PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Lisa Sylvester. Well the United States is the most welcoming nation in the world, and that is proved by the large number of legal immigrants and foreign workers in this country. And the number of foreign born residents becoming American citizens is rising. Now during this July 4th week, more than 15,000 immigrants became citizens.</s>PILGRIM (voice-over): A swearing-in ceremony in Florida at Cinderella's Castle. For nearly 1,000 immigrants, America really is the Magic Kingdom.</s>AMELIO GONZALES, DIRECTOR USCIS: America is a land that really forgets about who you were. America is only interested in who you are, and what you can be.</s>PILGRIM: And in Baghdad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raise your right hands.</s>PILGRIM: Foreign born soldiers sworn in as U.S. citizens on Independence Day. Despite decades of hyphenated Americans, Indian- Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, a big part of the deal is to truly become Americans.</s>GONZALES: ... I absolutely and entirely...</s>GROUP: ... I absolutely and entirely...</s>GONZALES: ... renounce and abjure...</s>GROUP: ... renounce and abjure...</s>GONZALES: ... all allegiance and fidelity...</s>GROUP: ... all allegiance and fidelity...</s>GONZALES: ... to any foreign prince...</s>GROUP: ... to any foreign prince...</s>GONZALES: ... potentate...</s>GROUP: ... potentate...</s>GONZALES: ... state, or sovereignty...</s>GROUP: ... state, or sovereignty...</s>GONZALES: ... of whom or which...</s>GROUP: ... of whom or which...</s>GONZALES: ... I have heretofore been...</s>GROUP: ... I have heretofore been...</s>GONZALES: ... a subject or citizen...</s>GROUP: ... a subject or citizen...</s>PILGRIM: The number of new citizens sworn in each year has been climbing steadily in recent years. Some say the national debate over illegal immigration, and the pending application fee increase, has spurred many legal immigrants who are eligible for citizenship, to make it official and become citizens. But for many, it is the American dream that is still highly desired.</s>GARY GERSTLE, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: As we look at what happens to immigrants who become citizens, we see them becoming much more broadly involved in American politics. We see them becoming much more broadly involved in American life.</s>PILGRIM: In fact, after the ceremony at Disney World, newly minted citizens lined up to register to vote.</s>PILGRIM: As USCIS puts it, when a person becomes a legal American, they study this country's history, vote, serve on juries, and fully participate in the fabric of this country. Coming up, more news of dangerous products from communist China. We will have a report. And Microsoft is unhappy with visa restrictions on temporary workers. And now it is trying to avoid those limitations at the expense of middle class Americans. Stay with us.