Making American Money at Home in Mexico

In the classic story, Mexican migrants surreptitiously cross the US border in search of jobs. The treacherous journey requires long separations from family and friends, and proposed US legislation would increase restrictions for such hires. But tourism is increasing employment opportunities in Mexico. In the late 1960s, the Mexican government focused on turning the fishing village into a tourist destination. Cancun now generates $4.8 billion in annual revenue and employs more than 200,000 people. Workers in Cancun depend on US tourist dollars, but maintain a distance from the US as well as debates over immigration. Guest-worker and boarder-patrol blues are not an issue for workers in Cancun. “It just doesn’t interest us,” says one Cancun worker. “There’s more than enough work.” The tourism jobs offer “a respectable standard of living,” in an area where housing and food costs are still low. Gabriela Rodriguez, secretary of tourism for the state of Quintana Roo, which encompasses Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, puts it this way: “We don’t want to go there, to the US. We want the US to come here.” – YaleGlobal