Yes, good points, I'll add [briefly from work]:
In addition to the instructional booklet, FNC reports there is a mock border training area in central Mexico where you try to evade BPs while "crossing" into America.
I read a while back Pemex has about 5 years of reserves that can be easily extracted using their current technology, as you indicate they will need a healthy infusion of foreign investment and new technology to maintain production levels. Unfortunately Mexico allows no foreign investment. What happens then? Reduced production? Allow Western investments? Or from Russia, China, Venezuela?
Whew, I hadn't yet seen the $38B figure of money sent from US to MExico. Yes we should do something to snare some of it. But Bush will never get tough on Fox, they seem to see eye-to-eye on these open border issues.
Congress could, at lobbyists' requests, slip some provision into some big bill where the banks and US Treasury could siphon a bit of the southward flowing money stream but only a bit I'd guess - enough to make the banks a pot of money with a bit going to Treasury, not enough to cause Fox to do more than mildy protest.
Wen is also scheduled to visit the headquarters of Mexico's state-owned oil company, Pemex. Chinese firms have succeeded in winning contracts to do work for the company.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Dec/82384.htm This article is from 2003, but, interesting.