Mexico worried that "migrants" not receiving public services (in the U.S., of course)
As Felipe Calderon and other Mexican government officials have done recently, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano spoke out today in defense of "migrants" (i.e., illegal aliens that Mexico has more or less sent us) and threatened to ramp up the pressure for an amnesty.
Bearing strongly in mind that she said this first in Spanish, and then it was filtered by the Washington Post and their reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, this is still an interesting thing to read:
Mexican officials have said they are concerned that migrants are being treated unfairly in workplaces and, in some cases, being denied public services. The presidential campaign has frequently inflamed tensions on issues related to immigration.
It would be great to learn which public services they have in mind; while illegal aliens are eligible for various services, the fact that their government would highlight that helps show that our generous program of services factors into that government's calculations.
She also said:
"Being effective in the defense and support of the migrants implies treating them the same way whether they are in Mexico or outside of the country... Given the adverse climate that prevails for the Mexican community in the United States, aggravated by the electoral debate in that country, we also have to give particular attention to the problems confronted by our migrants..."
Related: Mexico's PRD Party to establish "migrant houses" in the U.S. Felipe Calderon explicitly wants Mexican consuls to meddle in U.S. immigration debate (non-profits) Felipe Calderon's "League Against Discrimination of Mexicans in the United States" http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007377.html _________________
There are no words . . . at least none I can print here.
Mexico has absolutely NO shame. They should be, but aren't, embarrassed by their rhetoric. The really pathetic thing is that, in their arrogance and stupidity, they actually believe all of their rantings and ravings.
"It's all America's fault, yada, yada, yada!!"
Of course,in their view, Mexico is blameless...it's not Mexico's fault that its citizen are largely uneducated and unskilled. If only those "bad Americans" would educate Mexico's children like they're supposed to do!!
Mexico's sole contribution to the illegal immigration debate to is to whine and complain...and throw millions of its people over the border.
Mexico only cares for its citizens ONCE they illegally enter America; until then, Mexico doesn't do anything for them...except for distributing a pamphlet with instructions on how to escape illegally to America. The education system in Mexico is so bad that, by necessity, the pamphlet is comprised largely of pictures and graphics.
Mexican officials ought to realize that they're making fools of themselves.
Originally posted by SunDevilUSA: Mexico has absolutely NO shame. They should be, but aren't, embarrassed by their rhetoric. The really pathetic thing is that, in their arrogance and stupidity, they actually believe all of their rantings and ravings.
"It's all America's fault, yada, yada, yada!!"
Of course,in their view, Mexico is blameless...it's not Mexico's fault that its citizen are largely uneducated and unskilled. If only those "bad Americans" would educate Mexico's children like they're supposed to do!!
Mexico's sole contribution to the illegal immigration debate to is to whine and complain...and throw millions of its people over the border.
Mexico only cares for its citizens ONCE they illegally enter America; until then, Mexico doesn't do anything for them...except for distributing a pamphlet with instructions on how to escape illegally to America. The education system in Mexico is so bad that, by necessity, the pamphlet is comprised largely of pictures and graphics.
Mexican officials ought to realize that they're making fools of themselves.
They don't have enough sense to be embarrassed. Nor do any of the millions of mental midgets from Mexico that have taken up squatters rights in the US.
Just like Mexican "child bearers" who wait until they feel labor pains and sprint across our borders;
Just like the "child bearers" who stroll cluelessly down our streets with a stroller, 3 toddlers and one in the oven chattering in spanish while looking for the welfare office to sign up her latest source of income and citizenship;
The child molesters; the murderers; drug cartels, rapists; the gang bangers, the identity thieves, . . etc. closing down hospitals, overcrowding jails, maiming our border patrol agents, and the list is endless. Theirs is a culture of laziness, violence and ignorance. They all share one worthless brain cell with calendar appointed days attached to it's usage. The entire population that squats south of our border is the equivalent of clueless grown children on extra potent crack.
There are millions of these lawless, mental midgets from south of the border that have invaded our country breeding at the speed of sound, with no sense of dignity, no self esteem, no sense of responsibiility systematically destroying America and turning it into the lawless, poverty stricken cesspool with no resources because they miss the comfort of their culturally brain dead existence. Unfortunately for Americans, water seeks it's own level.
Yet the inmate that is running the asylum sits back on his thrown in all of his arrogance demanding that we not only send them billions of our tax dollars to continue to prop of their hellhole masquerading as a country but we accept responsibility and hand citizenship to the millions of their squatters here in the US. If there is any place we should wage war with? It's Mexico.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Beverly,
Originally posted by SunDevilUSA: well, I'm pleased that you finally realized. Were you educated in Mexico?
Actually, when you got your visa, you were welcomed on my soil.
Way to go PUSC! A good one.
I wonder what does all the talking, screaming, ranting on a forum does for them. It doesn't change anything anyway. People still sneak across the border, there are still 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and they are going to be here tomorrow. So what purpose does it serve to waste time to talk about it every single day? And I'm talking to the hate mongers. Their lives are so poor and empty, filled with rage and hatred, and it goes nowhere. Absolutely does nothing to further their cause, change the circumstances. It's not productive in any sense. What's the point? I pity you because you have such miserable lives. I'd say worse than any of the illegal immigrants who actually contribute to this country's economy with their hard toil and labor. They are much more valuable members of this society than the lazy welfare collecting hate mongers yapping every day about the same.
Iperson it isn't just a few people posting messages. Its most of the country. If the affects of illegal immigration weren't negative there wouldn't be the public outcry for change. It would not be the front runner issue for campaigning politicians.
The purpose for talking about it is to keep the issue alive in the eyes of Washington D.C. To reaffirm the notion that the country is tired of being used. A person who cares about their community or country is by far not deserving of pity. They should be applauded for at least saying something instead of maintaining silence. Looking at it from that perspective you are also helping to keep the message alive, thanks.
As far as the 12 mil being here tomorrow. Well, I guess we'll have to see what happens next. But it seems to me that as slowly but surely they snuck in the same is being done in reverse.
Think Hillary? What is her stance? Is she for amnesty? Not that it matters since she hasn't a chance to win. Not that it should matter to you since you can't vote and have no say.
You voted democrat. This country is not worth sneaking into any more.
Posts: 5882 | Location: San Antonio TX | Registered: 06-08-2007
Border Patrol’s counteroffensive riles Mexico After hundreds of attacks in a year, agency responds with tear gas
Boys gather on the Tijuana side of the fence separating the United States and Mexico in a neighborhood known as Colonia Libertad. The U.S. Border Patrol's response to rock throwing and other attacks often catches innocent people in the crossfire, residents along the border in Tijuana say.
View related photos Lenny Ignelzi / AP
Cameras Capture Conflict Along Border
updated 5:24 p.m. CT, Mon., Dec. 17, 2007 SAN DIEGO - The Border Patrol says its agents were attacked nearly 1,000 times during a one-year period along the Mexican border, typically by assailants hurling rocks, bottles and bricks. Now the agency is responding with tear gas and powerful, pepper-spray weapons, including firing into Mexico.
The counteroffensive has drawn complaints that innocent families are being caught in the crossfire.
"A neighbor shouted, 'Stop it! There are children living here," said Esther Arias Medina, 41, who on Wednesday fled her Tijuana, Mexico, shanty with her 3-week-old grandson after the infant began coughing from smoke that seeped through the walls.
Story continues below ↓ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement
A helmeted agent on the U.S. side said nothing as he stood with a rifle on top of a 10-foot border fence next to the three-room home that Arias shares with six others.
"We don't deserve this," Arias said. "The people who live here don't throw rocks. Those are people who come from the outside, but we're paying the price."
Witnesses in Arias' neighborhood described eight attacks since August that involved tear gas or pepper spray, some that forced residents to evacuate.
The Border Patrol's top official in San Diego, Mike Fisher, said his agents are taking action because Mexican authorities have been slow to respond. When an attack happens, he said, American authorities often wait hours for them to come, and help usually never arrives.
"We have been taking steps to ensure that our agents are safe," Fisher said.
Violence escalating
Mexico's acting consul general in San Diego, Ricardo Pineda, has insisted that U.S. authorities stop firing onto Mexican soil. He met with Border Patrol officials last month after the agency fired tear gas into Mexico. The agency defended that counterattack, saying agents were being hit with a hail of ball bearings from slingshots in Mexico.
U.S. officials say the violence indicates that smugglers are growing more desperate as stepped-up security makes it harder to sneak across the border. The assailants try to distract agents long enough to let people dash in the United States.
The head of a union representing Border Patrol employees said the violence also results from the decision to put agents right up against the border, a departure from the early 1990s when they waited ****her back to make arrests.
"When you get that close to the fence, your agents are sitting ducks," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Border Patrol agents were attacked 987 times along the U.S.-Mexico border during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the agency said. That's up 31 percent from 752 attacks a year earlier, and it's the highest number since the agency began recording attacks in the late 1990s.
About two-thirds of the attacks were with rocks. Many of the rest involved physical assaults, such as illegal immigrants getting into fistfights with guards.
About one of every four attacks occurred in San Diego, and most of those happened along a heavily fortified, 10-mile stretch of the border starting at the Pacific Ocean.
Agent Joseph Ralph estimates he has been struck by rocks 20 times since joining the Border Patrol in 1987, once suffering a broken a shoulder blade. "You find yourself trying to take cover," he said.[/b]
About four months ago, a large rock struck the hood of agent Ellery Taylor's vehicle. "The only thing you can think is, 'I'm glad that that wasn't my head.' There's no way to see it coming," Taylor said.
Agents receive more power In October, agents in California and Arizona received compressed-air guns that shoot pepper-spray canisters more than 200 feet. Agents already had less powerful pepper-launchers that lose their punch after about 30 feet — even less if absorbed by thick clothing or cardboard.
The Border Patrol says the pepper weapons are a less lethal alternative to regular guns, but they have caused at least one fatality. In October 2004, a college student died after she was struck in the eye by a pepper-spray canister that officers fired to control a celebration of the Red Sox's pennant win.
Border Patrol SWAT teams along the 1,952-mile U.S.-Mexico border are also equipped with tear gas, "flash bombs" that emit blinding light and "sting ball" grenades that disperse hundreds of tiny rubber pellets.
U.S. officials say the new tactics may spare lives. In March, an agent shot and killed a 20-year-old Mexican man whose arm was cocked back in Calexico, Calif., where rock attacks have soared in the last year. Two years ago, an agent fatally shot a rock thrower at the San Diego-Tijuana border.
No criminal charges were filed in either case.
Robis Guadalupe Argumedo, a seamstress in Tijuana, said she has been startled by tear gas on four nights since Aug. 7, when her 12-year-old son suffered a nose bleed. That attack also shattered a window of her neighbor's car.
Argumedo, 31, said she shouted in protest across the border at a helmeted agent on Dec. 8 after opening her front door to a cloud of tear gas. "He said: 'I'm the policeman of the world and I can do what I want.'"
Benito Arias said his 19-year-old sister-in-law fainted during an apparent tear gas attack about two weeks ago. The woman, five months pregnant, was given oxygen at the hospital.
His father, Jose Arias, fled with his wife a few blocks away, where paramedics checked their blood pressure. He said he sympathizes with the Border Patrol because Mexican authorities do nothing to prevent people from hurling rocks over the fence at agents.
"This is a matter between government and government," said Arias, 75. "They have to work out an agreement. We are innocent. What can we do about it?"
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Beverly,
Adult immigrants can complete their basic education in Spanish at one of 13 centers across L.A. County.
By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 11, 2008
Florentino Vidal began working on his family's ranch in Mexico at age 7, forgoing grammar and high school for a childhood spent growing lettuce, carrots, watermelon and tomatoes.
Vidal, 47, said he knows the Spanish alphabet and can read some, but gets confused writing much more than his name. Now he will have the opportunity to resume his studies and earn his Mexican diploma here in the United States.
The Mexican government opened its latest Plaza Comunitaria, or Community Plaza, Thursday at San Fernando Middle School, minutes from Vidal's house. There are 13 such centers throughout Los Angeles County, aimed at helping Mexican nationals complete their basic education. The centers offer free classes, in person or through video and the Internet, to Mexican nationals living in the U.S.
"They are leaving our country without that education," said Mario Velazquez, acting consul general at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. "We have failed in giving education to those Mexicans. We must try our best to give that education, even if they are abroad."
More than 40% of Mexican nationals over age 25 living in the U.S. had less than a ninth-grade education, according to 2005 data compiled by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Consular officials said the Spanish-language classes improve immigrants' self-esteem and enable them to help their children with schoolwork. The education in their native tongue also better prepares immigrants to learn English and encourages their assimilation. Hundreds of Mexican nationals have taken classes since the first local center opened in 2003. There are similar programs elsewhere, including San Jose and San Bernardino.
Vidal, a legal permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. in 1979, said he and his wife raised their four children to value education and not to take anything for granted. The eldest now attends Cal State Northridge.
"We would tell them to study, study, study, until we got mad," he said.
Vidal wanted to study but said he was busy working construction to support his family. At the opening of the San Fernando center Thursday, Vidal flipped through a third-grade Mexican geography book. He said he was interested in learning about the history of his country so he could pass that culture along to his children.
Jose Palmillas, 34, who also attended the opening, started high school in Mexico but dropped out after one year to work in Mexico and then to come to the United States. Palmillas, a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he has earned the same salary in his maintenance job for many years and believes that finishing his education will enable him to advance in his career.
"I feel like something is missing," Palmillas said. "I couldn't attend school when I was young, but now I am going to study to get ahead."
Palmillas said he also wants to be a good role model for his children, ages 1, 11, 13 and 18.
Laura Gonza***, a parent community facilitator for the Los Angeles Unified School District, works with about 70 students at a Plaza Comunitaria near Roscoe Elementary School in Sun Valley. Many come to her unable to read or write.
That illiteracy affects people in all aspects of their lives, including their ability to get apartments and jobs, said Daryabuth Martinez, program assistant at the Plaza Comunitaria at Cerritos College. Many parents have enrolled in classes at her center so they can learn to read to their children or grandchildren, or so they can more easily learn English and move past low-wage cleaning and restaurant jobs.
Space for the program is provided by schools and community centers, and the Mexican government supplies the textbooks. Students work at their own pace with the help of mostly volunteer teachers or tutors.
"They don't just learn how to read and write but how to grow as people," Martinez said.
San Fernando Middle School Principal Rafael Balderas said his goal is to build a "college-going culture."
"Remind your parents that we are pushing you through high school to graduate, not to be a dropout," Balderas told young students on hand for the opening Thursday. "But you know what? Your parents need to do the same thing. They now have the opportunity to go and get their GED, to become a United States citizen, to vote and to make a difference in the country."
Marisela Soto, 32, stopped going to school after sixth grade in Mexico but enrolled in classes at a Plaza Comunitaria in Los Angeles. Before taking the classes, Soto said, she was embarrassed to speak in public and worried about her inability to help her children with their homework.
Since enrolling, Soto said, "My self-confidence grew a lot."
On Thursday, she stood before a crowded auditorium at San Fernando Middle School and invited parents to follow her lead and go back to school.
anna.gorman@latimes.com
Nothing like being invaded by millions of poverty stricken illiterates BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OF OUR OWN [/end sarcasm]
The Mexican government or its people are so proud and full of dignity and love for their country why are they so determined to cram their masses of ignorance and poverty down our throats by building as many consulates and other facilities to keep them IN AMERICA AND SPEAKING SPANISH? WHY NOT EDUCATE THEM IN THE LAND THEY ARE SO PROUD OF? OH WAIT BECAUSE THEY WANT AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS AND FACILITIES TO FUND THEM.
This is an outrage.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Beverly,
Isn't it funny how the Mexican government only cares about its citizens once they have illegally entered America? I note that they're NOT trying to teach their citizens how to speak English...but perpetuating and encouraging the inherent unwillingness of Mexicans to assimilate.
It's a disgrace. Mexico needs to take its people home...and get its nose out of America's internal affairs.
Mexico, 13 of January.- The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the Federal District initiated the collecting of signatures in support of the national day called by Elvira Arellano in favor of the rights of the Mexican migrants in the United States.
Upon heading the act, the secretary general of the PRD of the capital, Carlos Reyes Gámiz, indicated that the signatures will be delivered to the U.S. Congress "to declare us in favor of immigration reform and against the human rights violations of the migrants that cross the border". He indicated that the goal of the campaign called by the Mexican activist in support of the migrants is to obtain in Mexico City, 500 thousand signatures.
To add, he announced that next Wednesday they will meet with Unions and social organizations in order to begin to multiply this effort. The party leader said that they will seek to obtain the signatures in public places, such as the Chapultepec Park, in Mexico City, the Church of Guadalupe, bus terminals and shopping centers. It is expected that in the middle of February the campaing will do its first count. (Notimex/SCL)
Add to del.icio.us
