I had this weird idea while watching Jon Benjamin Has a Van. He basically shoved his buddy across the border with no passport to return. The skit then fast forwarded to show his friend having made a life and family in Mexico.
So here is the idea. Many undocumented workers come here not knowing the language and with little money or means to survive. What if an American, with little knowledge of Spanish tried to make it in Mexico? I think it would shed light on the trials these workers face here, if Americans saw just how hard the reverse situation was.
In my field, I can take time off pretty much whenever, albeit unpaid, so I'm game for a year in Mexico. Am I crazy or does this sound like something people would like to read about and/or watch? I know it sounds a bit off, but I think it would be interesting to flip the whole "immigrants are stealing our jobs" tagline on its head.
This diary is pretty much just me ranting about how crappy it is that people with initiative who come here to work and take care of their family are treated like criminals. I mean, all the epithets thrown at undocumented workers are levied by people who think they came here to have it easy. They do not have it easy. They work their asses off for less than minimum wage, and people say they are stealing our jobs. I don't know a single American who would pick strawberries for twelve hours each day and receive $3 per hour.
So I don't know, I wonder what it would be like for an American working in Mexico. Would their farms pay similar rates to a gringo as they do their current help? Would people demand I learn the language or go home? Would there be as much resentment for an American stealing their jobs?
I think it would be an interesting sociological experiment, and hell, it might make a decent documentary as well.
/me just spouting off crazy thoughts off the top of my head again