Wednesday, April 05, 2006 Mexican Racism And Xenophobia
The Center for Security Policy published this eye-opening paper about the way Mexican laws treat illegal AND legal immigrants and businessmen in Mexico.
The Mexican solution
(Washington, D.C.): The Congress has received lots of free advice lately from Mexican government officials and illegal aliens waving Mexico's flag in mass demonstrations coast-to-coast. Most of it takes the form of bitter complaints about our actual or prospective treatment of immigrants from that country who have gotten into this one illegally - or who aspire to do so. If you think these critics are mad about U.S. immigration policy now, imagine how upset they would be if we adopted an approach far more radical than the bill they rail against which was adopted last year by the House of Representatives - namely, the way Mexico treats illegal aliens.
In fact, as a just-published paper by the Center for Security Policy's J. Michael Waller points out, under a constitution first adopted in 1917 and subsequently amended, Mexico deals harshly not only with illegal immigrants. It treats even legal immigrants, naturalized citizens and foreign investors in ways that would, by the standards of those who carp about U.S. immigration policy, have to be called "racist" and "xenophobic."
Mexico's Glass House
For example, according to an official translation published by the Organization of American States, the Mexican constitution includes the following restrictions:
Pursuant to Article 33, "Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country." This ban applies, among other things, to participation in demonstrations and the expression of opinions in public about domestic politics like those much in evidence in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere in recent days. Equal employment rights are denied to immigrants, even legal ones. Article 32: "Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable." Jobs for which Mexican citizenship is considered "indispensable" include, pursuant to Article 32, bans on foreigners, immigrants, and even naturalized citizens of Mexico serving as military officers, Mexican-flagged ship and airline crew, and chiefs of seaports and airports. Article 55 denies immigrants the right to become federal lawmakers. A Mexican congressman or senator must be "a Mexican citizen by birth." Article 91 further stipulates that immigrants may never aspire to become cabinet officers as they are required to be Mexican by birth. Article 95 says the same about Supreme Court justices. In accordance with Article 130, immigrants - even legal ones - may not become members of the clergy, either.
Foreigners, to say nothing of illegal immigrants, are denied fundamental property rights. For example, Article 27 states, "Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and their appurtenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters." Article 11 guarantees federal protection against "undesirable aliens resident in the country." What is more, private individuals are authorized to make citizen's arrests. Article 16 states, "In cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities." In other words, Mexico grants its citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution. Imagine the Minutemen exercising such a right! The Mexican constitution states that foreigners - not just illegal immigrants - may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33, "the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action." The Bottom Line
As the immigration debate in the Senate moves into a decisive phase this week, legislators who believe America's southern border must be secured, the Nation's existing immigration laws enforced and illegal aliens not rewarded with permanent residency and a direct path to citizenship are being sharply criticized and, in some cases, defamed as bigots and xenophobes. Yet, even their maximalist positions generally pale in comparison with the treatment authorized by the Mexican constitution.
So the next time such legislators - and the majority of Americans for whom they speak - are assaulted by Mexican officials, undocumented aliens waving Mexican flags in mass demonstrations here in the United States, clergy and self-described humanitarians, businessmen and other advocates of illegal immigration ask them this: Would they favor having the U.S. impose the same restrictions on immigrants - legal and illegal - that Mexico imposes on their counterparts there?
Nothing of the kind is in the cards, of course. Nor should it be. Legal immigration and the opportunity for foreign investors and other nationals legitimately to contribute to this country are not only one of its hallmarks; they are among the reasons for its greatness.
Still, we should not allow the hypocrisy of others' treatment of undocumented aliens in their countries to induce us to refrain from taking effective steps to prevent further illegal immigration: by building a fence along our southern border; by enforcing immigration laws in the workplace and elsewhere; and by discouraging more such violations - with potentially grave national security implications - by dealing effectively with those who have already broken those laws by coming here without permission.
So... How dare these xenophobic racists DEMAND anything from the US?
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Talk About Xenophobic Print: Email: Share: Heartless, Not Stupid August 29, 2006 - 12:00am By Bill McMorris “Xenophobic (zen-uh-foh-bic): adjective, suffering from xenophobia; having abnormal fear or hatred of that which is strange or foreign.†(Dictionary.com) Usage: The Mexican government’s immigration policy can be characterized as xenophobic.
Xenophobic is a word that you will hear tossed around as carelessly as a beach ball at a Grateful Dead concert. The term xenophobic, as it is used in political dialogue, is meant to incite feelings of guilt. And it just so happens that guilt trip lobbying has become a favored tool among liberal activists when debating illegal immigration.
This political philosophy would have you believe that opposing illegal immigration makes you a xenophobe … oh, and a racist, as well. That’s right, whether you realize it or not, you hate all foreigners. To be specific, you detest the people of Mexico.
“Hypocrite (hip-uh-krit): Noun, a person who feigns some publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.†(Dictionary.com) Usage: Vicente Fox’s treatment of foreigners proves that he is a hypocrite.
Evidently, the champions of the immigrant rights movement can be best described as xenophobic hypocrites. American immigration policy prohibits immigrants from holding two professions and two professions only: the offices of president and vice president. While ranting and raving about American xenophobia and racism, Fox’s Department of the Interior issued a memo “urging†cities to bar non-natives from serving in their local police or fire departments.
The opportunities extended to non-natives in Mexico are non-existent. The only time you’ll see an immigrant near a judge’s bench is when he’s pleading his border crossing case. There’s no leniency afforded to border jumpers in Mexico. Those convicted face up to two years in prison.
Vicente Fox, the spirited defender of immigrant rights that he is, begged his neighbors to the north to reach deep in their hearts and show some compassion toward his people. If one cared to look south of the Rio Grande, however, one would notice the Mexican government deploying thousands of troops to seal their southern border in 2001.
You’ll also be hard-pressed to find tales of heroes like 19 year-old Army Pfc. Diego Rincon, a Colombian immigrant that gave his life for a country that he grew to love, but not without achieving his lifetime goal of attaining U.S. citizenship. Since July 2002, America has produced over sixteen thousand other stories of heroism, honor and sacrifice. Sadly, Mexico only uses its military to keep people out, not bring them in.
Those that manage to evade border troops and corrupt cops do not find themselves living comfortably either. Guatemalan laborers make up a heavy percentage of immigrants. The Chiapas state of southern Mexico alone employs over 40,000 of these immigrants, who spend their days tending to coffee plantations. Desperate for work, they leave their country to serve as cheap labor earning approximately $3.50 a day. These immigrants provide a cheap alternative to native labor. In fact, the exploitation of Guatemalan immigrants is an essential component of the Mexican economy. This is because, you guessed it, the Guatemalans will do the jobs that Mexicans won’t perform.
Political scientist George Grayson explains it best, “If you ask them, ‘Why are you bringing in Guatemalans to work?’ they say, ‘You can’t depend on Mexicans. They don’t work hard; they’re irresponsible.’â€
Ringing any bells yet?
It is no wonder Mexico’s government officials have such a keen eye for xenophobic immigration policies: theirs serve as a perfect model for comparison.
Mexican officials, however, have enabled themselves to cast the proverbial stone within their glass house and not only emerge unscathed, but with a brand new renovation … courtesy of Guatemalan labor. And they have done this through a campaign of “guilt-tripping.†Words like “xenophobe†and “racist†serve as their sword and shield in this “debate.â€
The focus of this issue has shifted from a legal debate to a debate centered around “the people.†Illegal aliens and their supporters are trying to spin a border control debate into a pro-Mexican or anti-Mexican dilemma.
Conservatives, on the other hand, want to maintain the law of the land and border security. These two philosophies have clashed before.
Several years ago, it was discovered that Mexican officials had provided illegal aliens with water stations and maps directing border jumpers to U.S. soil. Conservatives reacted utilizing simple logic, which tells us that the Mexican government was coming to the aid of people who were knowingly breaking U.S. law. The Mexican government is obligated to respect American law.
Mexico justified these programs with a “people helping people†defense. What they’re really doing is breaking the law. Liberal activists analyzed the situation, put 2+2 into a calculator and got a smiley face. Thus, if you opposed these programs you appeared, of course, a cruel minutemen-loving racist.
“Guilt-trip†dialogue has been employed by liberals to change the focal points of every major issue in recent history. If one opposes abortion, it is not driven by their love of babies, but by an intense hatred of women. Contesting affirmative action does not highlight your colorblind eye, but your resentment for people of color. Disagree with the welfare state? You would, you poverty loving, exploitive, bourgeoisie supporting classist.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to let infantile name-calling win this one. In fact, next time someone a little more “progressive†than you is blathering about xenophobia … ask him to define it.
Billy McMorris is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at wjm27@cornell.edu. John Manetta Once Told Me appears Tuesdays.
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Posted By: Michael Williams on May 21, 2006, 10:43 AM Category: International Affairs
It's ironic that despite Mexico's outrageous infringements on American sovereignty through the promotion of illegal immigration, Mexico has far more xenophobic laws than America would ever desire. (I thought I'd posted on this topic in the past, but I can't find the link, alas.)
Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory. In the United States, only two posts � the presidency and vice presidency � are reserved for the native born.
In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.
Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."
Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges.
America needs to wake up and realize that cries of racism and xenophobia are nothing but lies that even the name-callers don't believe. Mexico's government is a third-world leech that wouldn't survive a year if it were unable to pass the bucks of poverty and oppression to America. Putting up a secure, impermeable border between our countries would not only be good for America, a wall would be even better for Mexico because it would force that country to deal with their corrupt, oppressive government.
America needs to wake up and realize that cries of racism and xenophobia are nothing but lies that even the name-callers don't believe. Mexico's government is a third-world leech that wouldn't survive a year if it were unable to pass the bucks of poverty and oppression to America. Putting up a secure, impermeable border between our countries would not only be good for America, a wall would be even better for Mexico because it would force that country to deal with their corrupt, oppressive government.
In the past, Some walls have been necessary and for good reasons. The Chinese come to mind. Their cultures, medicines and philosphy have remained pretty much in tact.
Well I personally do not believe in walls in this day and age and time. And how can usa even think about building a border wall for mexico if they will not build one across the canadian border.
It is not about walls... It is about making usa less lucrative to undocumented with jobs, benefits etc. Stop making it easy and stop the amnesties and the amount will be minimal.
While I agree cutting off the jobs and benefits will stop the average Mexican criminal/invader it won't stop drug cartels, the tunnels being done to enable the massive flow of drugs,nor the middle eastern terrorist that enter the US through the southern border with the aid of the Mexican coyotes. A wall IMHO is the most viable means of practically eliminating all of the activity. Alligators in the Rio Grande would be a nice deterrant as well.
There was probably a time that I believed that Drug Cartels could be stopped. That was when I was naive. A wall will not stop a diligent Drug Cartel. They are like the cockroach. they cannot be killed. they just keep coming back. New form .. new style.
His name escapes me.. but couple of months back.. Mexico... not usa (curious isnt it) just arrested the #2 drug supplier dealer in the WORLD. He had not 1 but 2 SUBMARINES full of drugs when he was busted.
hmmmm 1 if by land 2 if by sea
The terroists already come in by Canada and mexico. Coyotes are same as drug cartels.. they just find another way.
But **** you put more scare into me about that CHAGRAS thing. yikesss help me lift those bricks
In the past, Some walls have been necessary and for good reasons. The Chinese come to mind. Their cultures, medicines and philosphy have remained pretty much in tact.
Well I personally do not believe in walls in this day and age and time. And how can usa even think about building a border wall for mexico if they will not build one across the canadian border.
It is not about walls... It is about making usa less lucrative to undocumented with jobs, benefits etc. Stop making it easy and stop the amnesties and the amount will be minimal.
I agree with this. I believe the border fence is offensive and shows how innept our country is with controlling the flow of immigrants into our country. Our immigration system is deeply flawed. We need the workers from south of our border but allow little to no legal means for them to come here and work. That makes no sense to me. I'm not a fan of amnesty programs either. I believe the problem needs to be fixed up front. Our immigration system is too complex to rely on bandaid solutions.
It amazes me how many people are still wearing blinders and deny that we don't need these people to fill the jobs Americans will not do. How many of you would be willing to work 10 to 12 hours per day picking fruit - even if the wages were fair? Let's see a show of hands?
Originally posted by 4now: There was probably a time that I believed that Drug Cartels could be stopped. That was when I was naive. A wall will not stop a diligent Drug Cartel. They are like the cockroach. they cannot be killed. they just keep coming back. New form .. new style.
His name escapes me.. but couple of months back.. Mexico... not usa (curious isnt it) just arrested the #2 drug supplier dealer in the WORLD. He had not 1 but 2 SUBMARINES full of drugs when he was busted.
hmmmm 1 if by land 2 if by sea
The terroists already come in by Canada and mexico. Coyotes are same as drug cartels.. they just find another way.
But **** you put more scare into me about that CHAGRAS thing. yikesss help me lift those bricks
In the past, Some walls have been necessary and for good reasons. The Chinese come to mind. Their cultures, medicines and philosphy have remained pretty much in tact.
Well I personally do not believe in walls in this day and age and time. And how can usa even think about building a border wall for mexico if they will not build one across the canadian border.
It is not about walls... It is about making usa less lucrative to undocumented with jobs, benefits etc. Stop making it easy and stop the amnesties and the amount will be minimal.
I agree with this. I believe the border fence is offensive and shows how innept our country is with controlling the flow of immigrants into our country. Our immigration system is deeply flawed. We need the workers from south of our border but allow little to no legal means for them to come here and work. That makes no sense to me. I'm not a fan of amnesty programs either. I believe the problem needs to be fixed up front. Our immigration system is too complex to rely on bandaid solutions.
It amazes me how many people are still wearing blinders and deny that we don't need these people to fill the jobs Americans will not do. How many of you would be willing to work 10 to 12 hours per day picking fruit - even if the wages were fair? Let's see a show of hands?
Here we go again, that lame lie played out a long time ago. Who is we? As f'd up as Messyhole and South America and all of the rest of the 3rd world are, they need all the labor than can breed to rebuild and make their cesspools inhabitable. They are NOT picking fruit. Prior to the housing bubble burst they were building inferior houses and doing carpentry, plumbing, electrical, roofing; they are contaminating our food with ecoli in chicken plants, and various fast food places; they are working in hotels, doing gardening around office buildings (I see them everyday in downtown Chicago)and ICE is doing raids everywhere EXCEPT THE FIELDS you claim they work. They NO LONGER WANT TO WORK IN the fields so what are we supposed to do annually import them until they own America? For the record we already have NINE visa programs for farm workers and the farmers are still whining. Why because illegals are chasing the "American Dream" and working the fields is not good enough for them anymore.
They are taking jobs that Americans of all ages and generations used to do. You act like this country was paralyzed before they came and brought their cesspool mentality and cultural corruption with them.
This country is overpopulated and the fact that the majority of illegals here are not educated and have no clue what birth control or abstinence is along with no means of supporting all those babies I'd rather they stay in their own cesspools. We have our own problems and criminal element and as much as you are in denial the millions of illegals here are poverty stricken and poverty creates culturally cultivated criminals.
They are beasts of burden with excess baggage and zero value. You obviously have no clue how many billions of dollars we are spending to support, deport and jail these losers and their voluminous offspring. If they were anything other than albatross' Mexico would have built a wall to keep them in rather than producing maps to show them the way out.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Beverly,
How many Mexicans are coming to America because their country’s major malfunctions leave them with no other choice? The answer isn’t zero, although that’s what you might think after talking to certain Mexican politicans stuck in denial, writes Bridget Johnson.
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By Bridget Johnson
They say “denial†is a river in Egypt, but it’s actually a desert in Mexico.
As much as Mexico’s politicians stress that the dangerous trek across this expanse to slip across the American border is a pursuit of the American dream, they’ve paid no attention to Mexicans’ dreams.
Because for every Mexican who spends a season or more a world away from his family just to send home needed cash, there is a broken dream back home. Behind that is a broken system, a government that seems to have given up on utilizing the country’s resources, on valuing hard workers, and on keeping families together in their ancestral homelands for generations to come without living in fear of vicious druglords or abject poverty.
I spoke at length with former Mexican President Vicente Fox on his U.S. tour for his book Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of a Mexican President , hope that apparently wasn’t meant for his paisanos as the book wasn’t released in Spanish and wasn’t released in Mexico.
While prodding the United States to accept more immigrants, grant illegal immigrants all the perks, and stop branding immigrants as people who don’t learn English (“I see most of them learning Englishâ€) or use fake or stolen identities to get jobs (“I don’t know any case of using different Social Security numbersâ€), Fox painted such a rosy image of Mexico that you’d think no one would ever want to leave.
When I prodded him on that message, he gave me these types of nuggets: “People think of Mexico as violent and crime-ridden, but it’s comparable to the U.S.†When I asked him about the fact that deaths of journalists in Mexico in 2006 were second in the world only to Iraq, he responded, “Let’s not generalize. Yes, I understand there was newspaper people that was killed. This is the exception; there are a few cases like this. I can assure that the crime in Mexico is no more than the crime here in the U.S. …Organized crime is exceptional, is bad, and that battle will be won. Mexico is a safe country. Mexico respects human rights.â€
Denial.
On his tour, Fox reminded every journalist who got a sit-down with him that his grandfather, Joseph Louis Fuchs, immigrated to Mexico from Cincinnati before the turn of the century. But Fox’s grandfather left the United States because there was a malfunction in America at the time — discrimination against Catholics. How much was Fuchs going toward something as opposed to getting away from something bad?
Similarly, how many proud Mexicans begrudgingly leave their land of deep roots because they feel Mexico’s major malfunctions leave them no other choice?
While ordinary Mexicans eke out paltry wages from smog-choked Mexico City to the lush beaches, their government, police and judiciary have made corruption an art form.
Fox predicted that by 2040 the Mexican economy would be the “fifth largest in the world.†How, through its $25 billion a year drug trafficking industry?
This is a country that gets tough on drug cartels only when the U.S. is looking, where around 2,350 people have been killed just this year in drug violence.
Mexico is a country where the government can’t even accept the fact that the recent massive flooding that left half a million people homeless in Tabasco state could be due to poor dam management and dollars unspent on flood-control infrastructure. Instead, President Felipe Calderon lifted a line from the Al Gore playbook: “I can assure Tabasquenos that the origin and cause of this catastrophe is enormous climate change.â€
This is a country that has seen the worst series of murders in memory — hundreds of women slain and hundreds more missing in Ciudad Juarez since 1993. And a government that has not only closed unsolved cases, but criticizes journalists who bring up the crimes.
And proving that poverty can make you do desperate things, this is a country that nearly fell prey to the neo-Socialist blather of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who promised Mexico the moon with the backing of Hugo Chavez.
And now Calderon, the president who claims he can fix it all, can’t even deliver a state of the nation address in front of his own congress.
When it comes to illegal immigrants dying trying to cross a desert choked with AK-47-toting traffickers, we can’t put a Band-Aid on internal bleeding. Between treating Central American migrants like dirt and then blaming the U.S. for violating illegal immigrants’ rights, Mexico’s leaders need to summon enough introspection to realize what their country can be, and then summon enough courage to take the painful steps needed to get there.
Because the American Dream is well-loved, but there’s absolutely no reason why there can’t also be a Mexican Dream — in a thriving, desirable homeland.
Bridget Johnson is a columnist at the Los Angeles Daily News.
MEXICO PUBLISHES MAPS TO HELP ILLEGAL BORDER JUMPERSPosted by BAH in Misc. Wednesday January 25, 2006 at 6:02 am
It’s not enough that the corrupt, Vicente Fox-led government of Mexico has published a guide, euphemistically entitled “The Guide for the Mexican Migrant,†to encourage Mexican nationals to emigrate illegally to America. Now the Mexican government’s National Human Rights Commission has joined in such complicity by publishing 70,000 maps to aid illegal border jumpers in entering Arizona safely and crossing its desolate desert regions.
The Los Angeles Times reports today (excerpts follow):
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission will print and distribute at least 70,000 maps showing immigrants the safest routes to cross the border into Arizona, officials said Tuesday.
The project, which immediately drew fire from groups organized against illegal immigration, is aimed at reducing the number of people who die trying to cross 50 miles of Sonoran Desert to reach highways in southern Arizona, according to Humane Borders, the Tucson-based humanitarian group that created the maps.
The new maps will show spots where people have died — presumably discouraging some prospective migrants — as well as main roads, rescue beacons and the locations of water stations maintained by Humane Borders.
While such patriotic organizations as The Minuteman Project draw the ire of President Bush, misguided, open borders’ apologists such as Humane Borders aids and abetts the Mexican government in its purposeful invasion of the United States of America.
The Arizona Star reports (excerpts follow):
Four maps have been prepared, each one centering on a different migration corridor along the Arizona-Sonora border including Douglas, Nogales, Sasabe and Lukeville. The maps show the locations where deaths have occurred and also show where Humane Borders water stations have been set up and Border Patrol rescue beacons have been installed. The maps also indicate how far would-be illegal entrants can expect to walk in one to three days.
Mauricio Farah, one of the commission’s national inspectors, said about 70,000 maps will be distributed throughout Mexico starting in March.
But some critics say the map, much like a controversial comic-style guide that Mexico distributed last year, will serve only to push more migrants north.
Jim Nixon, who belongs to Tucson’s Arizonans for Immigration Control, said he had no doubt the map would encourage more border-crossers to make the trip.
“The map tells them where to go and where not to go,†he said. “Humane Borders is aiding and abetting, there’s no question in my mind.â€
What’s at stake for Mexico? Why does it encourage massive illegal emigration to the United States? Simple. As the San Bernardino Sun reports:
Mexicans working in the United States are a huge source of revenue for Mexico, sending home more than $16 billion in remittances in 2004, Mexico’s second largest source of foreign currency after oil exports according to the country’s central bank.
FOLLOW-UP: I’ve written previously on the Humane Borders’ leader, Rev. Robin Hoover.
FOLLOW-UP II: Debbie Schlussel weighs in on Fox, Bush, and the idiocy of the Humane Borders’ folks who are co-conspiring with Mexico to facilitate the invasion of the United States by Mexican nationals.
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