Thread: Consul General says illegal immigrants willing to return

Consul General says illegal immigrants willing to return to Mexico for chance at citizenship

Friday, March 23, 2007


PHOENIX (AP) - Illegal Mexican immigrants would be perfectly willing to briefly return to Mexico for the chance to live in the United States as legal residents, a Mexican diplomat said Wednesday.

But in order to do that, the U.S. Congress needs to pass fair immigration legislation, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, Mexican consul general for Phoenix, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Flores pointed to legislation expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress on Thursday that includes a provision known as ``touchback,'' in which illegal immigrants would have to return to Mexico before becoming eligible for legalization in the United States.The touchback concept isn't new. Last year, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., included it in his proposal for immigration reform.

Touchback critics have said illegal immigrants would never agree to return to their homeland for fear they wouldn't be allowed back in the United States.

But Flores said Mexicans would be happy to return to Mexico for a while to reunite with their families and visit the places where they grew up.

``I can guarantee you that if they pass immigration reform that gives an opportunity to thousands of Mexicans here to have legal status, the first thing they will do is comply with that condition of the touchback thing,'' Flores said. ``What we need is a legal framework. We need to cope with this not with measures that are basically punitive, that are mean-spirited, that do not take care of the issue.''

The Mexican consulate of Phoenix is one of five such consulates in the state and 47 nationwide. The consulates help Mexicans, both legal and illegal, with services such as issuing them identification cards, birth certificates, and passports, obtaining bank accounts, and seeking legal advice.

Because Arizona is the busiest illegal entry point along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Phoenix office is one of the busiest Mexican consulates in the nation and struggles to serve hundreds of people seeking help every day.

Flores rejected a belief among some Americans that illegal immigrants are hoping to be granted amnesty in the United States, as were an estimated 3 million illegal immigrants after President Ronald Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act in 1986.

``Mexicans are not asking for amnesty,'' Flores said. ``Mexicans want their dignity respected. They want to have self-esteem. They want to raise their children in a normal environment and not have to be living in the shadows with phony identities.''

He said for a touchback program to work, the government would have to allow illegal immigrants two to three years to return to their home countries.

As it stands now, Flores said illegal immigrants aren't leaving the country because they have no legal means to return to the United States and crossing the border has become too risky.

Because of stepped-up enforcement, immigrants are forced to cross through more rugged areas of the Arizona-Mexico border away from immigration agents, to avoid being caught. They also face violence from fellow immigrants, the smugglers they pay, and rival smugglers who try to steal human cargo for profit.

``They have to go through more treacherous terrain, and there is an increasing element of criminality that is accompanying the immigration flux,'' Flores said. ``People are being harassed, people are being robbed, women are being raped.

``All the measures that have been enacted in the past years, and the atmosphere, the environment that has been produced, constantly tends to make people who come into the States be persuaded they cannot go back because it will be risky, it'll be a lot more expensive, and eventually, that will not allow them to _ as they did it before _ be back in this country,'' he said.

Flores responded to a question he hears from many people on the conservative side of the illegal immigration debate: What about illegal don't they understand?

``I see the logic of it,'' he said. ``But it doesn't solve the complexity of the reasons why they're here, the root causes. Why did they come? Why are they here? Who hires them? Who sells to them? Who buys from them?

``It's a mutual problem, so we need mutual responsibility,'' he added. ``It's not about just putting the blame on them. That won't do away with the problem.''


http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles ... /news4.txt

PHOENIX (AP) - Illegal Mexican immigrants would be perfectly willing to briefly return to Mexico for the chance to live in the United States as legal residents, a Mexican diplomat said Wednesday.

Who cares? I don't believe it for one second. If that were the case, we wouldn't have to be dealing with a bunch of ILLEGAL foreigners, who snuck into our country.

But in order to do that, the U.S. Congress needs to pass fair immigration legislation, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, Mexican consul general for Phoenix, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Our Congress should not be "making deals" to try and please Mexicans. We are a country of LAWS.

``Mexicans are not asking for amnesty,'' Flores said. ``Mexicans want their dignity respected. They want to have self-esteem. They want to raise their children in a normal environment and not have to be living in the shadows with phony identities.''

Mexicans want dignity? Dignity is something you earn.
Raising children by hiding out, and using phony id's to steal jobs from Americans is no way to gain dignity and respect. Let's see:
Crimes
1. phoney and bogus id's
2. using bogus id's for rental properties
3. using bogus id's to steal jobs
4. having illegal babies in order to gain an "anchor" to keep you here
5. applying for state and federal benefits by using phoney id's
THERE SURE IS ALOT OF FRAUD GOING ON

Preach on firecracker. If they had any dignity seems to me they would have found the courage to stay home and fight instead of crawling through holes in the border fence, having babies to anchor themselves to benefits that they should not receive all while whining with their annoying arrogance and sense of entitlement.