Posted on 09/30/2006 8:56:37 PM PDT by VU4G10
Notice how the Mexican immigration reform proposals do absolutely nothing to erradicate any of the officially sanctioned racism embodied in Mexico's own immigration laws against us gringos? For more details on how much more strict Mexico's immigration laws are against us than ours are against them:
http://www.directory.com.mx/immigration
President Fox can still immigrate.
Legally.
You got me on that one :>}
Doing this thru the states would also eliminate some of the social anxieties in the U.S. Of course, being younger men and women, some are going to find local spouses, or have kids, but most would be seen as just folks in town to do a job for xx months or years, not a permanent part of the social fabric.
I'll have to think about this more.
There is a schizophrenic quality to our relationship with Mexico. We tend to love one another on a personal level while political resentments abound.
After 911 Mexicans were very emotional in their reaction toward Americans on a personal level. Politically, they joined with most Europeans and most American academics for that matter in assuming we had it coming. Fox delayed sending his official condolences until his failure to do so was remarked about publicly. I like Fox and I understand that in the context of Mexican politics he has to take care to distinguish himself from American interests or be accused of being an American poodle.
But post 911, most Americans were in no mood for such distinctions. We wanted to know who our friends were.
You will always notice that Mexicans view the US through two lenses simultaneously. They like you personally, and rather than understand that you are typical of Americans, they assume you must be different from the awful racists that the news (and Hollywood, too) portrays as the norm. Those that have lived in the US know that they were happy there, but even they assume that their good experience was unusual, that the norm is like they see on their TV. Its human.
Mexican news still portrays the immigration issue as a racist one, that the US is afraid of turning "brown" rather than understanding that they are our number one choice for legal immigrants, 200,000 per year every year, but that we want the law enforced just as they enforce their own immigration laws.
Americans and Mexicans make a good blend, in that we are lucky in our choice of neighbors. We aren't France with Morocco and Algeria as a choice of neighbors, for example.
You are right in noting that Mexicans who live on the border are able to get long-term visas allowing unlimited access, if they have firm roots on the Mexican side. This usually is granted to business owners and home owners who can cross at will to shop, or even live on the American side and operate their businesses on the Mexican side. Controlling the border won't have any effect on them, since they are crossing legally.
My issue with the guest worker program is that it creates a permanent legal underclass of worker. If we need a man's labor that badly, we need to give him immigrant status. The guest worker program needs to be by exception, rather than the rule. I'm acquainted with some sheepherders who are here under a guest-worker program, they've been here 12 years on three-year contracts, returning home to Peru every 3 years for a turn-around. In my opinion, if you need a man that badly, he should be an immigrant if he wants to be.
Obviously, the widespread use of illegal labor even more creates an underclass of second-class workers. If it were a matter of a few thousand a year, I would look the other way. But its half a million a year, on top of the 200,000 legal immigrants from Mexico, who are welcome.
If closing the border forces us to face up to a serious need we have for Mexican immigration, then we should answer that by increasing the quota, not by simply leaving the border open. All US workers should be legal, with full rights, not illegal and subject to abuse, or second-class guest workers separated from their families for years on end.
I'm a "Mex-ophile", I lived there and probably will again. But immigration should serve the interests of citizens, and it should be in numbers that can be assimilated. Mexicans understand that in terms of their own country, and if they think about it they ought to be able to understand our point of view as well.
Great post. You hit upon many important points. I have always felt our laws should be strictly enforced on the border and like you said if we need more immigrant labor then it needs to happen legally. It is not fair to US citizens to do it any other way; and it is not fair to the foreign workers either.
As stated, the wording indicates that he's disappointed because he was going to try and sneak across the border for a retirement in the USA. (?) [/sarc]
The hypocrisies, duplicities, brazen idiocies in the globalist's efforts abound in every arena . . . perhaps most glaringly vis a vis Mexico. GRRRR
ping
He has. But decades of corruption are going to take time to overcome, and his stance on immigration has overshadowed his otherwise excellent accomplishments.
Bttt!
What do we expect when we've been letting millions of freeloaders from Puerto Rico do the same thing for 100 years?
Puerto Rico is a Territory/Commonwealth of the United States. Mexico is not. I personally think Puerto Rico should have been cut loose many years ago- but that is another issue. As long as they have the status they do now, Puerto Ricans can legally come to US.
Many Mexican citizens can legally come to the US also; in fact we allow more Mexicans to legally work here and legally live here than we allow from any other country. I am not concerned about anyone who comes to this country LEGALLY. I am concerned about all who come here illegally.
My point is that we've allowed the residents of Puerto Rico to be Americans In Name Only, AINOs, for 100 years.
The residents of Puerto Rico only "want to be U.S. citizens for the benefits," too.
The residents of Puerto Rico don't pay any federal income taxes.
We gift Puerto Rico around $30 billion dollars in cash, tax scams for their businesses and federal and private sector jobs, each year.
The majority of the residents of Puerto Rico have never owned an American Flag, never waved an American Flag and only wave their Puerto Rican Flags at their public events the same as Mexicans with their flags.
Mexico wants the same deal we gave to Puerto Rico.
Mexico is just flat-out taking what we give to Puerto Rico. Mexico wants U.S. Taxpayer's dollars and all of the privileges of American citizenship with none of the responsibilities.
That's exactly what Puerto Rico's been given for 100 years.
How do we explain this double standard?
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