Posted on 12/25/2002 5:21:53 PM PST by HiJinx
They'll represent legal and illegal U.S. immigrants
By Tim Steller
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Two local attorneys will form part of a 100-member council created by Mexico's government to represent Mexicans living in the United States.
Isabel Garcia and Jose Lerma will be among the council members, all of whom are U.S. residents. Their main duty: to advise the Mexican government on the needs of its approximately 9.5 million native sons and daughters in this country.
The council's formation raises a broader question underlying the faltering U.S.-Mexican negotiations over immigration: Who should represent the estimated 4.5 million Mexican-born residents of the United States here illegally, and the approximately 5 million here legally.
Critics say the council looks like a representative branch of Mexico's government on U.S. soil. Seats were distributed in proportion to the concentrations of Mexican-national population across the United States, but members were not chosen by election.
"I think in general what the Mexican government wants is a joint sovereignty with the United States over Mexican nationals living in this country," said Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., group that favors restricting immigration.
But Mexico's consul in Tucson, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, said that his government's intent in forming the council is not to create a new U.S. branch.
"It isn't a House of Representatives. It isn't a parliamentary assembly. But it is a representative entity and, therefore, will certainly voice the concerns of the Mexicans who are here," Flores Vizcarra said.
Cándido Morales, director of the Mexican government's Institute of Mexicans Abroad, said the group is expected "to tell us what government programs that are targeted to their benefit in the United States are working, and which ones are not."
An example, Morales said, would be the Mexican government's literacy program, which provides books to Mexican communities in the United States. Also, groups like Arizona's Yaquis could petition the council for help getting permission to cross the border with donated materials for the Yaquis in Sonora.
The council will be chaired by President Vicente Fox and will have a committee of representatives from Mexico's government ministries, Flores Vizcarra said. These people will serve as the council members' contacts for solving problems.
Council members were selected by Mexico's consulates. In Tucson, Flores Vizcarra convened a committee of people involved with Mexico, and they selected Garcia, who is the Pima County legal defender and a well-known activist for immigrant rights.
"Our hope is just that we can better the situation for Mexicanos here," Garcia said. "I'm not a member of this organization to stand for the government of Mexico. What we stand for are the rights of all human beings - and that's Mexicanos included."
Lerma, a former Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge, lives in Nogales but works primarily in Tucson. He said he plans to set priorities after the group holds its first meeting in Mexico City.
Glenn Spencer, an anti-illegal-immigration activist, said he views the formation of the council as an attempt by Mexico to advance its power in the United States. Spencer, founder of a Sierra Vista-based group called American Border Patrol, calls the new group a "colonization council" and its members "a group of Mexican agents."
Spencer linked its formation to the ongoing effort to establish a system whereby Mexican residents of the United States can vote as absentees in Mexican elections. Mexico's Congress is considering proposals to grant such voting rights, including one that would form a Mexican congressional district encompassing the United States.
Others offer more benign explanations for why Mexican residents of the United States would want representation, or even a vote, in Mexico.
Antonio Gonzalez spends his days promoting Latino participation in U.S. elections as president of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, but he doesn't resent Mexico's efforts on behalf of its U.S.-resident nationals.
Since the United States is not offering them voting rights, it's understandable that they would choose representation in Mexico over no representation at all, he said. "I think that if they can't have one, they should have the other," Gonzalez said.
~ Contact reporter Tim Steller at 434-4086 or at steller@azstarnet.com.
While the rights of some border property owners are being denied them i.e., protection - Mexicans legal and illegal are being given a leg up from our government and these legal activists.
Arizona has Mexican Conciliate offices in all major cities in the state, why do they now need 100 lawyers to represent them? It seems reasonable to me if they are here without the green card or any other pass, they are illegal and they have broken the law. They are now deported maybe, only to return the next day and with the help of lawyers that BEND the law and judges who cant READ the law and up hold it to protect the United States Constitution as they are sworn to do leaving the taxpayers of AZ and all other states picking up the tab for their (the illegal) comfy stay in the good ol U S of A. When did an illegal person obtain the right to a lawyer or any Constitutional rights at all? Where are the Constitutionalist scholars, why are they not being heard? Is it because the socialists in our congress and Senate have watered down the meaning of the words in our Constitution so much, they no longer apply to a Republic.
Did I mention the Invasion is REAL and our Sovereignty as a nation means very little to anyone in authority. By that I mean, those whom weve elected to carry out the Rule of Law according to our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are failing to do so. The Citizen must now protect himself as those who are sworn to do so, are not.
"It isn't a House of Representatives. It isn't a parliamentary assembly. But it is a representative entity and, therefore, will certainly voice the concerns of the Mexicans who are here," Flores Vizcarra said.
We're not really talking about ducks.
It isn't a white duck. It isn't a green duck. But it is a red duck and, therefore, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.
-archy-/-
The Honorable Jane Hull
Governor of Arizona 1700 West Washington
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
December 26, 2002
Dear Governor Hull,
I am truly appalled at this move to place a 100-member council created by Mexico's government to represent Mexicans living in the United States. Is this not illegal in itself and a violation of our National Sovereignty?
It has been opined that the Mexican government wants is a joint sovereignty with the United States over Mexican nationals living in this country and that is wrong. Americans are being denied their rights as Americans i.e., afforded the protection their government swore to give them and by the Constitution while illegal immigrants are enjoying rights they have no right to. And I might add, we taxpayers are paying for all these handouts from hospitals, to schools and welfare.
You have a few days left in office to address these wrongs, and like the Camels nose just under the tent, Vicente Foxs intentions are quite clear and he is ridding a wave of Political Correctness, which is stamping out the very meaning of the United States Constitution and the Arizona Constitution.
Governor Hull, this state is being invaded by illegal aliens and slick lawyers. Why would anyone obey the law when our elected do not. I would appreciate the courtesy of a reply.
Sincerely,
I wish these words were on very large billboards in every major city and viewed by millions every day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.