In what has to be one of the more comedic aspects of the media dust-up surrounding the newly passed Arizona State immigration law, Mexico has weighed in.
Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the law that requires police to ask for identification or other proof of immigration status if they come into legal contact with a person they believe is in the country illegally.
A corrdidor for both drug and human smuggling, Arizona is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants, and Arizona lawmakers argue that the federal government has dropped the ball in securing the border.
Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa said: "The government of Mexico regrets that, despite the overtures made at all levels by Mexican federal and state officials, the legislators who passed this measure and the governor of Arizona have not taken into account the valuable contributions of migrants to the economy, society and culture of Arizona and the United States of America."
"The Mexican government took various steps to express to the Arizona government its concerns about the law without obtaining a positive response", Espinosa said.
"Nevertheless, when a measure such as SB 1070 has the potential of affecting the human rights of thousands of Mexicans, the Mexican government cannot remain indifferent."
"Criminalization is not the way to resolve undocumented immigration," Espinosa said. "The existence of cross-border labor markets requires comprehensive, long-term solutions."
"Shared responsibility, trust and mutual respect must be the bases for addressing the shared challenges in North America."
Beyond those comments, the Mexican Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning the law.
President of the senate, Carlos Navarrete Ruiz said in a letter to the Governor and the O-man, "The Mexican senators are concerned about the anti-immigrants actions in Arizona, which we consider against the human rights."
Really?
I don't think you've got your story straight, Carlos.
But you surely exemplify the clear double standard demonstrated time and time again by leaders of Mexico where the issues of immigration and border security are concerned.
Consider this provision of Mexican law that addresses the penalties that Mexico imposes on aliens who are found to be in violation of Mexico's immigration laws:
"Under Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison.
Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years. Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms.
Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered felons as well."
The law also says: "Mexico will deport foreigners who are deemed detrimental to economic or national interests, violate Mexican law, are not physically or mentally healthy or lack the necessary funds for their sustenance and for their dependents."
That's right, under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison.
And Arizona only wants people to have their identity checked?
Everybody here is all upset just because we want to see if they're here legally, and then deport them if they're not?
Give me a flippin' break.
Meanwhile the president of Mexico and our own politicians (who are supposedly representing citizens of the United States), yell bloody murder that the United States needs to provide a pathway to United States citizenship for illegal aliens - individuals who, under his country's laws would be facing two years in a Mexican prison!
Do you think President Calderon is about to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform in Mexico?
Do you think he will provide any sort of amnesty for illegal aliens in Mexico?
There is one lonely, rational voice in the American wilderness on this issue: Congressman Steve King of Iowa, who is also the ranking Republican on the House Immigration Subcommittee.
Congressman King summed up the situation succinctly with this one sentence quote: "Why would Mr. Calderon have any objections to an Arizona law that is less draconian than his own, one he has pledged to enforce?"
Why indeed!
The CIA reports that the Mexican unemployment rate was recently only 4%, lower than 150 other countries and significantly lower than the unemployment rate of the United States.
Each and every year illegal Mexican aliens working in the United States send more than an 20 billion dollars back to their families in Mexico.
Twenty Billion Dollars.
With a "B"!
And this is only the "visible money" that can be traced, transferred through companies like Western Union.
Large amounts of additional money are also smuggled back to Mexico by illegal aliens revisiting Mexico, and even more money is smuggled back to Mexico from the Mexican drug cartels and people smugglers.
This is money that enriches the Mexican economy while draining money from our economy.
The fact is that Mexico now considers Mexicans who breach our nation's borders to represent the first or second most lucrative source of revenue for the Mexican economy.
By providing Mexican citizens with the ability to earn money in the United States and then send it home to their impoverished families, the U.S. insures that Mexico has one of the most profitable economies of Latin America.
Giving young and physically fit male Mexicans an open corridor to the United States- albeit an illegal pathway- these men are kept busy working in our country and not making demands of the government of their own country.
So Mexico gets the revenues they generate, while we get the expenses they create... which helps Mexico to maintain the economic status quo that is favored by the wealthy and powerful of Mexico.
But even more helpful is the total disregard for American laws by the government officials charged with enforcing them.
Consider:
"in 2009, Virginia State Police contacted ICE for nearly 12,000 criminal inmates, but ICE picked up only 690."
"In 2008, 2.9 million foreign visitors on temporary visas never officially checked out. About 40% of the illegal alien population are visa overstays."
DHS Secretary Napolitano recently stated that to deport 10.8M (her numbers) illegal aliens “the sheer logistics of doing that are overwhelming.”
And even the O-man recently called the Arizona bill "misguided".
Misguided?
A state requires its police force to enforce laws already on the Federal books because your administration won't, and you call it "misguided" ?
Sen. Reid and co-sponsors have just submitted their controversial immigration bill, Senate Bill 9.
The document has the following controversial language: that America must "move beyond detaining and deporting the undocumented... reunite deported families... reconsider the border wall that is a symbol of fear and intolerance... that those hiding in the shadows of our society are provided a rapid path to citizenship."
You're right, O-man.
Something is certainly "misguided".
But it's not the Arizona law.
"To admit foreigners indiscriminately to the rights of citizens, the moment they foot in our country would be nothing less than to admit the Grecian horse into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty." Immigrants should be moved to citizenship carefully and deliberately "to enable aliens to get rid of foreign and acquire American attachments; to learn the principles and imbibe the spirit of our government; and to admit of a philosophy, at least, of their feeling a real interest in our affairs." ---- Alexander Hamilton
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birth place, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here." ---- Theodore Roosevelt
PORK OF THE DAY:
$71,000 by Rep. Nydia Valezquez (D-N.Y.) for Dance Theater Etcetera in Brooklyn for its Tolerance through Arts initiative. One of the group’s ongoing projects is Angels and Accordions, which according to its website is, “A site-specific performance/walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery. Produced by Dance Theatre Etcetera and the Green-Wood Historic Fund, in conjunction with openhousenewyork. A cast of 30 angels, 10 accordions and a classical music ensemble guide visitors through Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery.” Perhaps that is where the taxpayers’ money is buried.
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