Immigration reform blockage – the view from Mexico

The US has more than 12 million undocumented aliens, the majority of them Mexicans. To move forward with their legalization it is necessary to persuade the conservative political class of that country and that job requires more than just simply desire. The past failed initiatives for immigration reform are signs that, without an ample consensus, the attempts will fail again. After 9/11, it has been very difficult to place an immigration agenda above that of security. Legalization has become subordinate to a reinforced control of the border, which, for its extent, seems impossible to accomplish. To complicate things more, Democrats as well as Republicans have used the undocumented as scapegoats to explain problems like unemployment.

Now, the president of the US opens another opportunity for reform. The xenophobic Arizona law permitting the arrest of people on the basis of their racial profile opens a debate that has been lost since George Bush tried without success to pass immigration reform. As a consequence, an unprecedented coalition of more than 100 Democratic congressmen, mayors, business leaders and magnates — like Rupert Murdoch, owner of the conservative Fox network — whose objective will be to revive legislation efforts to bring the undocumented “out of limboâ€