America Should Be Proud of Its Immigration Laws
by Gary Bauer

08/02/2010

Like many Americans, I am horrified by the brutality many illegal immigrants encounter when they flee atrocious living conditions in their home countries.

But, unlike the Obama Administration and certain federal court judges, I am not confused about where this brutality takes place: not in Arizona or other American states, but in a diverse group of countries, including those with the gall to berate America for its fair and just immigration laws.

Consider Mexico, where, until 2008, illegal immigrants were handed prison sentences of one-and-a-half to ten years. Though that law was reformed, Mexican police are still required to check the immigration status of people they suspect are in the country illegally, and to hand over migrants to immigration authorities.

Illegal immigrants often receive brutal treatment from Mexico’s notoriously corrupt police. A recent Amnesty International report found that immigrants to Mexico regularly face abuse, kidnappings and rape, often with police involvement.

According to the National Human Rights Commission, over a recent six-month period, 91 migrants were kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico with the direct participation of the Mexican police. As one migrant told USA Today, “There (in the United States), they’ll deport you. In Mexico they’ll probably let you go, but they’ll beat you up and steal everything you’ve got first.â€