Posted on 11/13/2005 5:11:34 PM PST by dennisw
President Bush announced he will begin the long-awaited Congressional push of his immigration-reform proposal. This brought new hope in Mexico that at long last President Fox's 2000 campaign promise may still be kept before next year's presidential elections. His PAN party could well use the victory, as it is in desperate need of a major achievement in its effort to hold on to the presidency, which as of now looks dismal.
It has long been held by most countries that immigration policy must be based on what is best for the country, not for the immigrant.
Mexico's immigration policy is very much based on this concept, as it should be. It is not easy for foreigners to simply apply for and receive a work-permit visa. Even to purchase a vacation home whether through title or a bank-trust (fideicomiso) in the foreign ownership forbidden zones requires a visa and proof of income from outside Mexico. Such visas are easy to obtain but must be renewed annually and do not permit holders to work in Mexico. Foreigners retiring in Mexico to obtain a visa must show proof of no less than $1,500 per month, and such a visa will not allow them to work.
Like the U.S. and other countries, Mexico does make it easy for certain individuals to obtain permanent residency (and eventual citizenship) allowing work in certain professions or for executives of multinational companies working in Mexico, business, industrial and real estate investors, etc. Such visas are clearly in Mexico's best interest, but like in the U.S., a low-income foreigner looking to immigrate to Mexico to compete with low-income national workers has no chance of being welcomed.
However, Mexico wants - no, insists - that the best U.S. immigration policy is one that considers what is best for Mexican immigrants and Mexico, while paying only lip service to their needed reforms negating the need for Mexicans to seek economic asylum in the U.S. And this is of course where the friction comes in. But, the U.S. bears much of the blame for spoiling Mexico on this issue.
I describe it as "spoil" because for decades the U.S. looked the other way while generation after generation of Mexican governments showed a high degree of competence for helping themselves to the wealth of their nation but limited competence on managing their vast country's assets. For 70 years the U.S. was well aware that Mexico's political system was under an institutional authoritarian and corrupt dictatorship and did and said nothing.
And, while supposedly guarding the border, it was miraculous how, after the cancellation of the Bracero program, during agricultural high seasons border guards seemed to evaporate, allowing a steady flow of workers in the country. And this, too, spoiled Mexico because that flow of workers acted as the steam-valve on a pressure-cooker holding social unrest at a minimum. This also allowed Mexico to ignore investing on needed economic development infrastructure to create more jobs that in turn would have kept more people home. With each succeeding administration the situation grew worse, and more and more Mexicans sought economic opportunity in the U.S.
While our government was indifferent to the plight of the Mexican people, the Mexican worker spoiled many U.S. industries. Do you want someone to work 60 minutes an hour and not complain - to the contrary, be grateful for the job at half the rate paid domestic workers? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to pick vegetables in temperatures over 100 degrees? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to pour hot tar on roofs in the heat of summer? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to clean better than 20 hotel rooms a day? Hire Mexicans. Do you want someone to clean over 30,000 square feet of office space in a shift? Hire Mexicans.
Fox's administration is well aware of the U.S. dependence on low-wage, hard-working Mexicans and feels he has a strong hand insisting that Mexicans already here be granted residency, and create a guest-worker program allowing several hundred thousand more workers to legally enter the U.S.
This again lets the Mexican government off the hook from investing on job creation infrastructure, while gaining close to $20 billion annually on remittances sent home by Mexicans in the U.S.
So let's hear from Mexico. What are you going to do to better the life of your own people so they won't have to leave?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Osio, editor of HispanicVista.com, at Posiojr@hispanic.sdcoxmail.com.
Good find, Dennis.
With Bush's popularity sinking like a rock, I hope his "Amnesty-for-all-illegals" hopes are dead on arrival in Congress. I intend to refuse to support any candidate who will not enforce our immigration laws. What is the Republican party thinking? They've allowed companies to ship some of our best jobs overseas to foreign workers, and allowed companies to replace American workers with illegals here at home. American First! American jobs are for Americans.
We should not be a pressure release valve to preserve the corruption in Mexico.
And as even the author of this piece points out, good labor.
Oh I forgot those people who grow food and build buildings are the epitomie of evil to some on FR.
"Cheap labor."
And lets not forget the lie that "they keep costs down to be passed on to the consumer"
The most important issue we face today and only seven posts on FR as of this writing.
If the illegal immigration problem is not solved, none of the other issues will matter.
Secure Our Borders Now!
First it was landscapers,
Then the roofers,
now it's the drywallers, carpenters, masons.
The pipefitters and electricians in Iowa are nervous as hell.
It's too late in Nebraska, the illegals pretty much have push out the natives from all construction work. Unless you're willing to work at 1/3 scale.
And I swear, if I see one more mexican climbing up the front of a 480 Volt Power Panel....
I will laugh at those who defend this open border nonsense when their taxes fly though the roof in 2008.
No habla, my a$$.
The trucking industry is being overrun with illegals as well.
Have some pity here. I live in a [not so] diverse neighborhood of mostly illegal aliens and there are only so many of these threads I can read without flippin' out.
Do you have anything positive to say about the US? You continually slam Americans and praise law breakers. Whats up with that?
"Cheap labor
And as even the author of this piece points out, good labor.
Oh I forgot those people who grow food and build buildings are the epitomie of evil to some on FR."
What do you know about the construction industry?
As a contractor myself, I can attest to the shoddy (untrained) "workmanship" of illegal aliens on a construction project. I can do so because it is my job to come in behind these people to fix their screw-ups (and they are legion). I shouldn't complain, because I make some really good money doing what I do. I only say this because the average consumer ends up paying twice for what they should only have to pay for once.
Trust me, I would be just as happy doing something else besides straightening out the foul-ups of "Juan y Pedro", but someone has to do it. May as well be me.
And, NO, I do NOT "Se Habla". I'm an American. If I choose to relocate to the "Land of Enchaladas", then I will think about learning Mexican (Spanish IS different).
Unless the voters make this a major issue and as long as both parties have a vested interest in paying lip service to enforcing secure borders while doing next to nothing, expect more of the same.
It's going to take something like a Beslan massacre at a Texas school for the country to really wake up, I'm afraid.
However they come in day after day with wads of $100 bills, buying cell phones, karaoke machines, giant stereos and iPods...things I don't have the budget to afford. And I know they are sending part of their income back home to Mexico. One way or another, they are taking home more $$$ than I am. Are they paying taxes the same as I do? I don't know.
On the plus side, most of them seem to be very nice folks. On the minus side, they are monopolizing the service industries and they aren't learning English. Would I rather have them here than Islamofascists? You bet. They are good people. Yet here they are, often undocumented, living among us and enjoying a great life, having completely bypassed any normal and legal entry into American life. And they are here to stay. Better get a Spanish dictionary, you'll need it to do business in America.
I believe we should offer amnesty to these poor CRIMINAL INVADERS.
Give them 2 weeks to get the HE!! out of our country.
Bury the ones who don't honor this amnesty in jail or __.
Give huge fines and jail time to all of their aiders or abettors, private or government.
Do you think the initial quota on the proposed H5A Visa is too low, too high, or just right?
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