Posted on 05/25/2006 7:28:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa warned Thursday that federal plans to use more troops and barriers to tighten security on the nation's southern border could hurt the city's attempts to increase trade and tourism with Mexico.
"There's no question that putting up a wall, assigning the National Guard, could have a chilling effect on tourism, the relationship between the two countries, economic ties," the mayor told reporters on the eve of his meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
"Our economies are much more intertwined than most people really understand," the mayor said. "The benefits to both countries are great."
Villaraigosa's concern with potential economic fallout came on the day the Senate authorized 370 miles of new, triple-layered fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a sweeping immigration bill. The vote opens the way for negotiations with the House.
President Bush, meanwhile, has announced plans to dispatch up to 6,000 National Guard members to states bordering Mexico to support the Border Patrol and help stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
The mayor stressed the importance of the region's economic ties with its southern neighbor. He said he intended to discuss trade and tourism with Fox on Friday and avoid the contentious immigration debate, which is a federal issue.
At the same time, he acknowledged a federal border crackdown involving thousands of uniformed troops and new barriers could hinder, rather than help, his attempts to expand business with the city's southern trading partner.
Mexico sends more tourists to Los Angeles than any other country an estimated 1.5 million in 2005. Trade between Mexico and the Los Angeles region totaled $25 billion last year, which supported an estimated 42,000 jobs in Los Angeles County, the mayor said.
"We gain more by embracing the world, rather than turning our backs on it," the mayor said. "By working toward the mutual benefits of increased trade and foreign investment, we've taken steps beyond enforcing laws and building walls to address the flow of immigrants."
Improved business ties, he said, "will ultimately work to reduce the underlying economic factors that push people away from Mexico and toward the United States."
As mayor of an ethnically diverse city and the son of a Mexican immigrant Villaraigosa has spoken sympathetically of those "who clean hotel rooms, who sweep the floors, who watch our children." At the same time, he has also called for secure borders and the enforcement of immigration law.
As he has in the past, he urged Congress to forge a compromise that "holds people accountable for breaking the law, but also provides a pathway for citizenship for the 12 million people who are currently living and working here."
Fox has faced criticism for a U.S. visit that overlapped with the congressional debate. But the mayor said the timing was not inappropriate.
"Any time that two neighbors can come and visit and have discussions, that's a good thing," he said.
Neither do I. I do remember the gang fights and every Monday newspaper related a wedding, anniversary, or a birthday party stabbing, sometimes a shooting, on the 2nd front page.
They really did prefer knives to guns. In junior high, girls wore "rats" in their pompadours, to conceal switch-blade knives. Boys' gang was "The Red Devils."
Somehow or other, everyone spoke English.
Your mother is correct. There were nice areas of L.A. when I was a youngster. I just happened to live on the wrong side of the street to attend the "good" junior high school.
Recognizing the critical difference between cultural heritage and geopolitical allegiance.
The melting pot worked for both these women because the numbers and order provided time and space for assimilation and perspective.
I think you and my mother grew up together.
Just shaking in my boots!
Mexicans don't come here as tourists not do they come here for trade.
How ridiculous!
That little house in Yorba Linda ...
Can it get more ridiculous than this?
Fear lack of nonexistent Mexican "tourism" or "trade" if we UPHOLD our laws on ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Try pulling this ILLEGAL ALIEN stuff in Mexico!
Don't know - I'm older than dirt.
Well, my mother is sixty years old.
Add 13 years.
Where's the barf alert? ;-)
This guy give me a chilling effect..he want to be POTUS one day...and take a big old eraser to that border.
In this year, he has revealed his MECHisa stripes.
We call him "VilleaReconquista" here.
His political career is over. His pro-illegal stance will make sure he doesn't go beyond maybe California Legislative Senator (which is pretty meaningless).
Thank God.
Tourists use entry points, they don't wade rivers or hike across deserts. No wonder this idiot failed the Bar Exam over and over again.
For a short time around 1914 my grandparents lived right next door to your Mom's cousin in Whittier.
Undocumented tourists.
Shove it up your a$$, Senor Mayor.
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