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.
FAOT
(F___ All Of Them.)
Who is going to get off their ass and represent American citizens living in America?
Dear President Bush,
You were elected to protect America and her citizens, NOT MEXICO!
I have no answer; apathy, laziness, ignorance, stupidity, all of the above? All I know is how exasperated and frustrated I've become with it all.
Reading that article did nothing to lower my blood pressure or make me more tolerant (ptui) of diversity (double spit).
I lived in Spain for four years. Voted absentee in every Oregon election I could at that time. The fact that Mexican citizens want to vote in their nation's elections doesn't shock me, and personnally do not consider this a threat against United States sovereignty.
Mexico's Congress is considering...Mexican congressional district encompassing the United States.
This one gives me pause. There are associations, the Phil-Am Society comes to mind, which tries to foster better relations between the U.S. and the Phillipines, and that speak out about issues of concern to foreign nationals in serving in our military or who reside here. But establishing a Mexican congressional district in the United States is a violation of our sovereignty? No. The Mexicans are treading dangerously with this idea.
But establishing a Mexican congressional district in the United States is a violation of our sovereignty?
SHOULD READ AS FOLLOWS:
But establishing a Mexican congressions district in the United State? It is a violation of our sovereignty.
OTOH, I wouldn't give you a plugged nickel for any of the thievin' crooks who are sneaking over the border daily.
I fear the Mexican government is treading deliberately with this idea.
U.N,WTO,NAFTA,WORLD BANK
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.