Posted on 05/21/2010 3:57:28 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Obama administration is deeply embarrassed by the legislators of Arizona. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, in discussions with representatives from China (China!), cited the Arizona law as evidence of human rights failures in the U.S. Doubling down, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley agreed that the law could pose a "fundamental challenge to human rights around the world."
At a joint press conference with Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, who recently described the Arizona law as "violating the human rights of all people," President Obama delivered a message to "the American people and to the Mexican people" that his administration was taking a hard look at the "troubling" law. Calderon has issued a travel advisory to Mexicans, warning them to avoid Arizona lest they be, well, what exactly? Grabbed, hooded, hustled into a dark cell and never heard from again? Um, no, asked a few questions.
You might think Obama would find a way to make that point, tactfully of course, to our Mexican guest, rather than agreeing that the law amounts to "discrimination." But no, as on so many other occasions on the world stage, Obama finds himself in general agreement with our critics. If we embarrass him, the feeling is mutual.
Is the president aware that in Mexico, police are "required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues"?
While the administration was fulminating about the horrific human rights violation the Arizona law represents, Amnesty International was issuing a report about Mexico's mistreatment of its own illegal migrants. "Migrants in Mexico are facing a major human rights crisis leaving them with virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses," said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher at Amnesty International. "Persistent failure by the authorities to tackle abuses carried out against irregular migrants has made their journey through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world."
The migrants, who are usually attempting to make their way through Mexico to the United States, suffer kidnappings for ransom, robbery, and rape. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission reports that nearly 10,000 were abducted over six months in 2009. Almost 50 percent of victims said that public officials were involved in their kidnapping. _Amnesty estimates that six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual violence.
It suits Democrats to treat immigration as an issue of "race" and discrimination because it permits them to frighten Hispanic Americans and secure that important voting bloc. But it's a fiction. We have an immigration problem because the U.S. is an incredibly desirable place to live and work. Immigrants continue to enrich our society, not least because they are often more appreciative of our institutions and liberties than are the native born. If it were feasible, millions of people worldwide would come here. And millions wait patiently, sometimes for decades, for the chance to do so. Democrats worry ostentatiously about the unfairness of asking people to prove their legal status. What about the unfairness of giving an advantage to line jumpers over those who abide by the law and wait their turn?
Obama proposed that "undocumented" workers be required to go to the "back of the line" before being considered for citizenship. But how could that work? Those waiting abroad for green cards frequently wait for a decade or more. Where exactly would the end of the line be?
The U.S. needs many different kinds of legal immigrants -- particularly those who are job creators. As Ben Wildavsky outlines in "The Great Brain Race," "Between 1995 and 2005, 25 percent of all American engineering and technology companies were founded by immigrants -- including half of those in Silicon Valley. Nearly one-quarter of all international patent applications filed from the United States in 2006 named foreign nationals as inventors ... While immigrants made up just 12 percent of workforce in 2000, they accounted for fully 47 percent of scientists and engineers with PhDs. (And) two-thirds of those who entered science and engineering fields between 1995 and 2006 were, yes, immigrants."
But our current immigration law makes it difficult for these Ph.D.s, trained with considerable investment from U.S. taxpayers, to remain in the United States. They are returning to their countries and taking their job-creating skills with them.
These are the sort of immigration questions that serious leaders should consider -- rather than demonizing the people of Arizona.
I have a question for my FR friends, in what way shape or form is Mexico an ally of the United States? Please give me examples.
“Getting Lectured on Human Rights by Mexico”
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Sounds like the old joke about the flea w/an erecshun floating down the river, screaming for someone to raise the bridge!
Semper BS!
Enforcing constitutional laws is a human rights violation? I wonder if that defense would work in traffic court.
Sorry, I can’t give you one
They are allies only if we are giving them something. I had hopes that Calderon would be a good president. He is just another Fox.
This article was good....until it started pandering over foreign nationals claiming to be “job creators” and the like.
This was a back-door pro-illegal alien amnesty piece....because this is the same rationale people use that support Illegal Alien Amnesty....but do not have the backbone to admit it
The majority of the foreign PhD holders that are hired in the US are hired because they can be paid less than Americans. There is not a market demand for these phD’s....they are just brought because they are cheaper to hire. Charen is just regurgitating the Illegal Alien Amnesty myth
We do not need any Illegal Aliens, nor do we need any Guest Worker Amnesty, Temporary Worker Amnesty, or H1B Visa Amnesty. With 10% US employment, there is zero need for any foreign labor. If you cannot say “deport all Illegal Aliens”....you are pro-Amnesty. If you mention “Guest Worker” or “Temporary Worker”....you support Amnesty, too (without the nads to admit it)
I am deeply embarrassed by having barak hussein as our president/
I wish one of the good guys in congress would introduce a bill to change the US law covering illegal immigration to match Mexico’s and then force debate on the bill. It might be instructive to hear democrats attack a mirror image of Mexico’s law as inhumane, poarticularly those that just gave Calderone a standing O
Obama is an idiot.
Why do we have immigration laws.??
They are there to allow people fromother countries to leave the country they are unhappy with and come to our country and make a home.
Like any house party we allow so many people in at a time, because if we didnt we would overfill the room or we would run out of food, we could not accomodate the whole community all at once there are just too many. One family would fill the place and others would get left out.
So we invite who we can and the others have to wait.
Illegals are not willing to wait so they come to the party and jam themselves in. They devour the food, and scream for more. They are poarty crashers. They crash the aprty and then go home leaving a mess.
Our real friends cannot come and enjoy the party because the party crashers have greeedily devoured what was there for our friends.
It’s like a teen p[arty gone wild when the parents left on vacation. Obama is supposedly the adult here who comes home finds these kids all over the place and instead of straightening out the mess he invites more.
An idiot.
I have a question for my FR friends, in what way shape or form is Mexico an ally of the United States? Please give me examples.
The Free Trader Globalists who support NAFTA consider Mexico an “ally”. That failed trade agreement has just cost Americans millions of jobs, billions of dollars, and untold pain and misery from Mexico’s Illegal Aliens.
Ending NAFTA would help the US in its handling of Illegals...but the Free Trader Globalists would drop a pantload. It is easier to secure a border when you do away with all agreements that keep it open
Who give a sh*t what Mexico thinks or says about anything.
Matter of fact, it reminds me of this too....
http://www.hsgng.org/pages/pancho.htm
Unfortunately, most marxist educated/indoctrinated Americans (so-called) are unaware of this too!
Semper Ignorance!
0bama in not an idiot, he’s an arrogant pos, but the reason he and the rats are against the immigration law is, that they want to give the illegal immigrants amnesty and have future democrat voters
“It’s like a teen p[arty gone wild when the parents left on vacation. Obama is supposedly the adult here who comes home finds these kids all over the place and instead of straightening out the mess he invites more. An idiot.”
Obama is an EVIL idiot who is set on destruction of this country. He must go, while there is still a country left to restore.
Are you sure he is your president? He sure does not act as if he was the president of all Americans. I am not embarrassed, I am angry at the idiots who voted for this arrogant p o s.
I was also, it seemed right and fair but no one else wants to play.
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