Calderón: Congress can find common ground on immigration

Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY 8:16 p.m. EST January 21, 2015

DAVOS, Switzerland — The United States must create a more flexible immigration system if it wants to end illegal migration, former Mexican president Felipe Calderón said Wednesday in an interview with USA TODAY.

Calderón, in Davos for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, praised President Obama's executive order allowing Mexican migrants who have U.S.-born children and have lived and worked trouble-free in the U.S. for at least five years to stay in the country without fear of deportation. But Calderón said he fears it will be short-lived.

"The Republican Congress could reverse (Obama's executive action) for political revenge," Calderón said. That would be disastrous for Mexicans living in the United States, he added.

Obama, in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, said he would veto any bill that attempts to undo his actions on immigration. The country cannot afford to have Congress "refighting past battles on immigration," Obama said.

The House of Representatives voted last week to reverse Obama's immigration orders by attaching them to the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which runs out of money Feb. 27.

The House also voted to end deportation protection granted by the president to more than 600,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

During Calderón's presidency, migration to the United States slowed to a trickle as the Mexican economy grew. Immigration picked up in 2012 after a recession that began in the U.S. in 2009 spread to south Mexico, Calderón said. When President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in 2012, Mexicans expected their country's economy to soar. Instead, it soured.

Most Mexicans come to the United States "looking just for opportunity for more revenue," Calderón said. "They're not looking for a new country with a new family."

While they come looking for work, they often stay because they can't return freely to Mexico without risking running afoul of U.S. immigration law, he said.

Calderón said he believes Republicans and Democrats could find common ground. A program to allow Mexicans to work seasonally in the U.S. would provide the labor the U.S. needs while giving Mexicans the jobs they seek, he said.

"If you provide flexibility, many Mexicans will go home," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...laws/22124919/

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Most Mexicans come to the United States "looking just for opportunity for more revenue," Calderón said. "They're not looking for a new country with a new family."

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Exactly. It's just about the drug money.

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Calderón said he believes Republicans and Democrats could find common ground.

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Why would Calderon think Republicans and Democrats can find common ground on immigration? Oh that's right, they all work for the same cartels.

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Originally Posted by Jean

Calderón said he believes Republicans and Democrats could find common ground. A program to allow Mexicans to work seasonally in the U.S. would provide the labor the U.S. needs while giving Mexicans the jobs they seek, he said.

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What does he mean, "find common ground"? 'Bamacrats and the Repub leadership are already standing on common ground. 'Bamacrats want the votes of all those Undocumented Democrats, the Repub leadership wants to give their big money donors the surplus labor that those donors covet.

Nobody is going home. Everybody is going on the gravy train. We're paying them to colonize us and we don't even need them. Labor force participation is down, wages are stagnant, and even our STEM graduates are having difficulty find jobs in their fields.

There is no *need* in the United States. This is just a straight up selling out of the American middle and working classes.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

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Originally Posted by vistalad

What does he mean, "find common ground"? 'Bamacrats and the Repub leadership are already standing on common ground. 'Bamacrats want the votes of all those Undocumented Democrats, the Repub leadership wants to give their big money donors the surplus labor that those donors covet.

Nobody is going home. Everybody is going on the gravy train. We're paying them to colonize us and we don't even need them. Labor force participation is down, wages are stagnant, and even our STEM graduates are having difficulty find jobs in their fields.

There is no *need* in the United States. This is just a straight up selling out of the American middle and working classes.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

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And how right you are! But I still say there's more to this than votes by people not allowed to vote and big donors wanting to save a few bucks an hour for labor to only pay an even larger tab on welfare. There's big time payola involved with the cartels, it's the only explanation for this madness. Think about it, how does millions and millions of unskilled uneducated non-English speaking illegal "labor" benefit companies like Facebook or owners/board members like Zuckerberg and Andreesen?

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Calderón said he believes Republicans and Democrats could find common ground. A program to allow Mexicans to work seasonally in the U.S. would provide the labor the U.S. needs while giving Mexicans the jobs they seek, he said.

"If you provide flexibility, many Mexicans will go home," he said.

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Why should we play by your rules, Calderon. I say the same thing can be accomplished if we refuse to employ them and enforce our immigration laws as written! Honestly, I think "flexibility" is the problem ...... our President has been too flexibile with the U.S. Constitution and our immigration laws. He is bending them to his will and not upholding them as he was sworn to do.

"......, many Mexicans will go home," and what do we do with the ones that didn't? Until we have a full and final solution, we do not have a solution! The seasonal migratory idea did not work long term, that one has been done! Some, Mexicans and Americans, do not take the lessons of history seriously. That is an obvious fact, look who is in Congress and who elects them.

When Barbara Jordan, a black representative from Texas, investigated immigration for President Clinton, one of the things that she learned is that when foreigners are brought in to do certain jobs, those jobs become associated with foreigners.

We can break the cycle of foreigners. With field work for example, if we cut off the "temporary" workers, wages will rise. Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez negotiated pay that was in the $7/hour range. That would be in the $20/hour range today.
******************************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

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Originally Posted by vistalad

When Barbara Jordan, a black representative from Texas, investigated immigration for President Clinton, one of the things that she learned is that when foreigners are brought in to do certain jobs, those jobs become associated with foreigners.

We can break the cycle of foreigners. With field work for example, if we cut off the "temporary" workers, wages will rise. Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez negotiated pay that was in the $7/hour range. That would be in the $20/hour range today.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

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I never heard that, vistalad, thank you for that information. It's true too isn't it? Something I hadn't thought about before. That would also make American workers reluctant to apply for jobs where a lot of foreigners are employed, too, wouldn't it? They wouldn't have the normal work place camaraderie would they, no common language, no common culture, no common interests. They might even be targets for pranks and jokes or meanness since they aren't of the same nationality. Whether that would be true or not, that could well be the perception of American workers making them less comfortable to apply for work amidst a lot of foreigners, especially if they figure out most of them are illegal alien lawbreakers. Who would want to work alongside illegal alien lawbreakers?

Americans deserve better than this. Americans are legally entitled to work alongside Americans where they have a daily sense of belonging instead of being the stranger in their own workplace in their own country. I'd like to ship all these pro-immigration fools in Congress and the White House over to North Korea or Afghanistan or hey, a Maytag plant in Mexico or an Apple Computer plant in China to work for awhile and see how much they like working with foreigners.

Oh yes, and one more thing, your comment about Chavez and his movement for farm workers, yes, that would be around $20 an hour now and although not being paid today for field work because of immigration, many of the fruit pickers on the West Coast make about that much. The season is short for the fruit so the rates and bonuses are much higher. I researched this several years ago and most fruit pickers were making around $18 an hour, could be more by now. Of course, they were all illegal aliens earning the dough.