"Mexican official blasts U.S. anti-immigration effort

Ft. Worth Star Telegram | 5-30-2003 | E. Eduardo Castillo

[MissAmericanPie]

Mexico City - International immigration is a part of global development and should not be sacrificed to excessive security measures, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Thursday.

"We should rid ourselves of the false argument that the fish of terrorism moves comfortably in the waves of migration," Derbez told an 11-nation Regional Migraton Conference in the Mexican city of Cancun.

Derbez noted that Mexico has tightened it's own immigration measures to assist the United States since 9-11.

But the implicitly criticized those who have used those terrorist attacks to justify anti-immigration measures in the United States.

He called for "joint effort to effriciently combat" terrorisim "without converting our countries into a system of isolated tanks."

"Migration cannot be separated from development," Derbez said, calling it a global "factor of economic dynamism."

He also said it was "associated with the preservation of human rights" around the world.

The heavy immigration of Mexican and Central American citizens to the United States has become a major source of labor for significant U.S. industries and an important source of revenue for several countries.

Mexican officials have set a priority on reaching an agreement with the Untied States that would legalize much of that process - a negotiation that has been slowed by the U.S. reaction to to terrorist attacks.

Separately, Mexican President Vicente Fox is treating his invitation to a two-day Group of Eight summit starting Sunday in Evian, France, as a major prominent world role for Mexico.

That larger role might help counterbalance Mexico's increasing economic ties - some say dependence - on the neighboring United States, which receives 75 percent of Mexico's exports. But the two positions sometimes clash.

The Fox administration's successful campaign for a temporary seat on the U.N. Securityu Council was widely criticized at home because it led to friction with the Untied States over pacifist Mexico's reluctance to support an invasion of Iraq.

"It was highly costly to national interests," said Humberto Garza, an expert on Mexican foreign relations at the elite College of Mexico.

[Eaker]

Mexican official blasts U.S. anti-immigration effort

American military blasts criminals invading U.S.A!

I know it is just a dream........

Eaker

[Choose Ye This Day]

"This country isn't anti-immigration (activist spin). The U.S. only asks that persons come to our country the legal way, even if it means you have to WAIT awhile."

I'm afraid the wait is what is driving many to cross the borders illegally. When a Mexican is out of work and suffering financially, they have basically three choices:
(1) Staying in squalor in Mexico, trying to eke out a living by finding other underpaying job,
(2) Stay in squalor in Mexico until your legal immigration papers get processed and you're allowed to enter the U.S. legally, a process which can take two years or more; or
(3) crossing the border illegally to have an immediate chance at much better working conditions and income.

Here's my naivete: Why not make LEGAL immigration easier, simpler and safer? Realistically, I'm afraid the border will never be militarized.

Can't we make the requirements to enter strict but attainable: you must have a job lined up (90% of illegals come here because their brother/cousin/daughter already has a job in the factory and get one for their relative down South), a place to live, and no criminal history (Mexico would have to step up and cooperate). Let's reduce the waiting list, and speed things up.

You must pay a one-time entrance fee of, say, $500 (most mojados pay the coyotes more than this to get across now), which would weed out some of the freeloaders.

You will be issued a 3-year temporary work visa only. If you have not obtained citizenship AND attained at least some basic English proficiency by the end of the 3 years, it's sayonara, back to Guadalajara. (Many illegals I have known are only planning on working here a few years then returning to their native land.)

During the 3 year temporary work period, an adult wage-earner may not have more than one child or non-earning dependent in the country.

No more automatic US citizenship for infants born in our country. Citizenship only to children of citizens.

You MUST check in voluntarily every six months with the INS and provide proof of address, proof of employment, insurance, etc. (Maybe using some type of National ID for "guest workers" only, with a bar code or magnetic strip, something difficult to fake. No genuine ID card, no job, no welfare, no school, nada.) If you fail to check in, you are automatically considered illegal and subject to immediate deportation.

Will they check in? The honest ones that are here to work--of course they will. Especially when the ID Card is needed to be hired, get services, etc. If somebody doesn't check in, the INS can just "cancel the card," making it show up as invalid the next time a potential employer swipes it, or the police scans them when they pull 'em over for speeding, etc.

Any crime committed while our guest, higher than a simple misdemeanor, will get you a one-way trip home.

I have no problem with the honest and hardworking who want to come here and engage in gainful employment. But they have to play by the rules, and we have to enforce the rules. Sure, this system might be hard to implement at first, and there would be costs involved, and the ACLU would never stand for it, but I think in the long run it would be less costly than what we do now or having our military seal our borders. At least it might be a step in the right direction.

Comments, suggestions, flames?

[YankeeReb]

I have a construction business in Portland and Seattle. We have been union for many years but are about to change this since we are no longer competitive. Competitors use Mexican labor because they are cheap and work hard. Our $30+/hour workers, who have done a good job for us for years, won't be able to replace what they had with us because the union halls are full, in fact one union said they don't have any money. I'm not happy about this but we will go out of business if we don't change.

That's the whole problem, as long as we have a constant flood of cheap labor, then everyone's wages get depressed. How long can we have a first world country/economy if the majority of people are paid third world wages. Eventually this has to destroy the middle class.

You say the foreign labor is cheap and works hard. I don't doubt you at all. If any of us were fleeing a third world hell-hole we'd think $8.00 / hr and a 60 hour work week was a Godsend.

If current trends continue you'll have an overpaid managerial class and the rest barely scraping by. That's one of the hallmarks of a third world society. I'm afraid we're racing towards that.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Basically, our culture is all but destroyed right now. There should be a moratorium on ALL immigration for at least ten years.

We only have a couple years left at this rate.

[KEVLAR]

If only our congress critters would listen, these are both good suggestions IMHO.

[Tancredo Fan]

I'll second that.

Mexico should have been dealt with before Iraq. Mexico is worse by far.

[Duramaximus]

"Basically, our culture is all but destroyed right now. There should be a moratorium on ALL immigration for at least ten years.

We only have a couple years left at this rate."

Amen! One only has to look at KalifMexifornia to see this nation's future.

Along with this there should be an all-encompassing investigation to reveal which politicans gained financially from allowing this travesty to happen. Once the list is compiled... let the public executions begin.

[Duramaximus]

"If only our congress critters would listen..."

Aside from Tom Tancredo they aren't listening because they are far too busy counting the $$$ they rake in from allowing this to happen.

If money wasn't being transferred in exchange for their turning a blind-eye toward the problem you can bet they would be all over this problem.

This problem is not bound by any political party, they all are taking their share... while we pay the price.

[madfly]

ping

[666beast]

bump to the top.

#1 election issue to me.

[Regulator]

You don't have to make this choice.

If your competitors are winning the game by cheating, i.e., using illegal alien labor, you can sue them for damages under the RICO act. There are already a number of lawsuits under way, and also quite a few that have already won. You can contact this guy: Howard Foster

As you can see from his bio, RICO labor lawsuits are his specialty. He has already won in the the 9th Circuit -- which you are in. Therefore you have precedent on your side. If you are serious about this, and you can show lost business (or even a pattern of criminality on the part of your competitors), you can win and recoup your losses. And, at the same time, tell the cheaters that competing by breaking the laws and spitting on Americans isn't going to work.

If what you said is true, please contact him.

[Bill Davis FR]

ATTENTION MEXICO, AMERICA IS A SOVEREIGN NATION...

[Aria]

Well this is very interesting. One of the worst problems is that the unions won't enforce their own contracts and non-union companies regularly work on union jobs to their and our detriment. The non union companies can take any job they want and make more money. They are the only ones growing here. Maybe this is a way to get the unions to put the effort in. That would seem much easier to prove than digging up who is legal and illegal. I think the illegal labor is more likely to be non-union.
Thanks for the tip!

[janetgreen]

What do you propose to do with the estimated 15 million who are already here and are already on some form of government assistance? Illegal aliens are bankrupting our states, and there's no reason to believe that the legal ones won't do the same thing. It's called the government tit, and they like it. Good deal for them, bad deal for us.

[Regulator]

Maybe this is a way to get the unions to put the effort in

Of all the organizations in the country who should be on this boat, it's them. They should be right there with you, putting whatever monetary power they have behind a company that honors their contract.

[Choose Ye This Day]

"What do you propose to do with the estimated 15 million who are already here and are already on some form of government assistance?"

1) End it. The Federal gov't and each state should be able to say, "¡no más!" The National ID card becomes mandatory for any immigrant immediately. You don't go sign up for the card, you don't get a job, you don't get to cash checks, etc. without a valid Guest Worker card. Time for drastic welfare reform--beginning with illegals, and then sweeping across all of American society.

2) For those already here illegally, I guess we have two choices. Either (a) round 'em all up and ship 'em home--highly unlikely, since the INS can't seem to do that now, or (b) grant a provisional amnesty (as happened under Reagan in 1987), but this time, the illegal must come forward and MUST pay a fine of, say, $500 each, in order to receive his Guest ID card. If there are 15 million, as you say, that'd be $7.5 Billion if they all ponied up. The revenues from the fines should be routed back to border states that have paid the brunt of illegal immigration. Those that don't sign up and pay the fine--most services will be denied to them, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them and ship 'em home.


"Illegal aliens are bankrupting our states, and there's no reason to believe that the legal ones won't do the same thing."

They won't if we don't let them. Did the Irish bankrupt the states? The Chinese? The Italians? No. They immigrated here legally (and thank God they did), but they weren't coddled and given handouts. They had to work hard and by God they had to become Americans. Let's allow the others to do the same, and preserve some self-respect, by ending the freebies.

"It's called the government tit, and they like it. Good deal for them, bad deal for us."

The government teat isn't dood for anyone. It needs to dry up now. Agreed.

[Choose Ye This Day]

"If only our congress critters would listen, these are both good suggestions IMHO."


Thanks. Maybe Congress would listen, if anybody spoke up. It seems all anyone on our side wants to tell Congress is:

"I'll vote you out if you don't put up a wall and stop every single, solitary wetback from coming into this country, and if you don't find every dirty Mexican that's here already, taking American jobs, and string him up by the neck."

I fail to see how things will get better if nobody is proposing workable solutions.

[janetgreen]

You have some pretty good ideas. The old fashioned way was the best way, it worked back then, and would work now, but the politicians are too busy hawking votes and favors, and won't listen to common sense. There are a few that do seem to listen, but they're few and far between.

This is not a racial thing, it's an economic thing, and Americans rightfully resent being forced to reward lawbreakers with all the social services, schooling and medical care when many Americans can hardly afford to pay their own bills. Many of these Americans in the trade industries have lost their jobs to illegal aliens who work for less, and this isn't fair.

Employers who hire illegals should be warned against it, then fined if they do not comply. American jobs should go to Americans, not foreigners. This applies to the H1B visas holders too who have put many Americans out of work by working for less. It doesn't make economic sense. Again, the politicians are deaf on this.

[virgil]

When does the bombing begin? I think we should go down there and clean their clocks. The arrogance of the Mexican oligarchy needs to be knocked down a bit. The Mexican activists with their sense of entitlement to US resources might be brought back to reality with a cruise missle up their arses. And as we seize their oil fields, then Mexicans might be more worried about keeping their own resources instead of grabbing ours. The price of peace is idleness and lack of perspective.

[judgeandjury]

International immigration is a part of global development and should not be sacrificed to excessive security measures, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Thursday.

OK, then over the next 15-20 years I expect Mexico to let in 5 million Chinese, 5 million Pakistanis, 5 million Indians, 5 million Africans, and 5 million Russians because, as Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said, international immigration is a part of global development.