AZ-Mexico's top man in Arizona taking expertise to N.C.
Mexico's top man in Arizona taking expertise to N.C.
by Daniel González
Aug. 20, 2009 12:00 AM
For nearly six years, Carlos Flores Vizcarra has served as the consul general of Mexico in Phoenix, in charge of providing services on behalf of his government to the more than 650,000 Mexicans in Arizona at a time of rising animosity toward illegal immigrants.
Flores Vizcarra is widely credited with improving services for immigrants, both legal and illegal. He has built closer ties with local and state officials and improved cooperation on immigration and trade issues. And he has grappled with the fallout of the crackdown on illegal immigration in Arizona.
But soon, Flores Vizcarra will be leaving Arizona. He has been reassigned to head the newly created consulate general of Mexico in Raleigh, N.C., where he will be in charge of providing services to Mexican immigrants in North and South Carolina. It is a region of the country that faces many of the same challenges as Arizona, including a fast-growing Mexican population and a backlash toward illegal immigrants.
In the past, the Mexican government maintained only a consulate in Raleigh, but the office is being expanded into a more high-profile consulate general because of the area's growing Mexican population. Flores Vizcarra will leave Arizona in September. Mexican President Felipe Calderón has not named his replacement in Phoenix.
Flores Vizcarra is a former Mexican congressman who spent eight years in Arizona, first overseeing the consulate in Tucson for over two years and then as the consul general of Mexico in Phoenix since the beginning of 2004.
In an interview, Flores Vizcarra said consular appointments typically last a few years.
He was asked to stay in Phoenix longer to attend to the many challenges tied to the "constantly deteriorating environment toward the undocumented" stemming from state laws aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of Arizona by denying them benefits, such as in-state college tuition.
Flores Vizcarra said his office has been inundated by stepped-up immigration enforcement, which has resulted in the arrests and detention of thousands of Mexican nationals by U.S. immigration officials because they were suspected of being in the country illegally or had committed crimes. Many of them were apprehended during immigration sweeps by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or caught by other local police departments, which in recent years have started calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials more frequently when they encounter illegal-immigration suspects.
Representatives from the consulate general try to interview all Mexican nationals who are detained or arrested to ensure their rights have been protected and to help notify family members of their whereabouts, Flores Vizcarra said.
In 2008, the consulate general's protection department logged 9,520 cases, up from 1,643 the year before, according to the consulate.
The number included Mexican nationals arrested in immigration sweeps, found in smuggling drophouses or arrested by police. As of Aug. 11, the protection department had logged 2,529 cases this year, including 749 migrants found in drophouses.
Margie Emmermann, Gov. Jan Brewer's Mexico and Latin America policy adviser and executive director of the Arizona Mexico Commission, said Flores Vizcarra cooperated closely with local and state officials.
"He is known for . . . his ability to build relationships," she said.
Flores Vizcarra will face many similar challenges in North and South Carolina, said Marc Rosenblum, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
The two states combined are home to about 600,000 Mexican immigrants. The vast majority, 450,000, live in North Carolina, home to one of the fastest-growing Mexican populations in the country. The state's Mexican population grew 50 percent this decade and nearly 500 percent since 1990, Rosenblum said.
Arizona's Mexican population also grew 50 percent this decade and tripled in size since 1990, he said.
In recent years, state and local officials in the Carolinas have taken steps to control illegal immigration fueled in large part by a construction boom similar to the one that drew illegal immigrants to Arizona.
Flores Vizcarra said he is excited to start his new appointment in Raleigh but will miss the challenges in Arizona.
"To be honest, I am kind of accustomed to it," he said. "I will miss it, more than be glad to get away."
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