http://www2.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_2963844

Amendment to HR 3057 misguided


ANYONE who reads our editorials knows how seriously we take the extradition of criminals from Mexico. Hundreds are "free" in Mexico after being charged with murder and other crimes here in the United States.
We believe there must be pressure brought to bear on Mexico from the White House.

But the so-called Beauprez Amendment, which would cut off all aid to countries that refuse to extradite those charged with killing a U.S. law-enforcement officer is a wrongheaded approach.

Clearly its aim is Mexico, that prohibits the return of suspects who face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Carried by Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., the legislation could inadvertently end programs that benefit the United States.

According to Rep. David Drier, R-Glendora, who met with us last week to discuss issues, there is no so-called "aid" to Mexico in the common sense of the term. The Mexican government can't expect billions in foreign aid.

Instead, we fund earmarked programs through private contracting agencies.

One of the most effective of these has been counter-narcotics efforts that has eliminated thousands of acres of opium poppies and marijuana stemming the flow of illicit drugs that find their way to Americans.

Other programs are helping to prevent the spread of HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis, a direct threat to Americans through infected aliens entering the United States.

In the early 1990s, illegal immigration from Mexico was targeted as the likely cause of a tuberculosis outbreak in the region. By 2004, Asian immigrants accounted for bringing tuberculosis to this end of the county.

Tijuana, gateway to California, posted the highest number of TB cases in Mexico in 2003, and the disease remains a health problem throughout Mexico's interior population and among its own immigrants from Central America.

Last year, the United States began delivery of $3 million in medical equipment to help in testing for the highly communicable disease. Funding came from the U.S. Agency for International Development. More money goes for education programs and to train health workers in Mexico.

Perhaps more important, $22 million in State Department programs aimed at improving the Mexican economy would be jeopardized by this amendment to HR 3057, the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

A strong economy that offers employment and a higher standard of living is the surest means to keep Mexicans from fleeing to the United States to find work.

And according to Dreier, funding for these important projects is already conditioned on Mexico's cooperation in a number of areas. That includes controlling its northern border and creating incentives for Mexican citizens to return home after illegally crossing into the United States. Clearly, Mexican authorities have yet to make significant inroads into these areas.

Sure, our blood boils when Mexico refuses to extradite cop killers because they face the death penalty, but killing programs that stand to aid Americans as much as Mexicans just doesn't make sense. Nevertheless, the amendment gained traction in the House, passing 327-98. We urge right-thinking lawmakers to delete this detrimental amendment when the appropriations bill goes to conference sometime next month.