Thread: Mexico must take steps to ensure residents will stay

Mexico must take steps to ensure residents will stay

RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.

September 9, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- Americans and Mexicans have more in common than you might imagine, and that's not necessarily a positive thing.

People in both countries respond to illegal immigration into the United States in ways that are dishonest, insulting and counterproductive, and they spend too much time blaming each other for situations they helped create.

Many Americans find it easier to blame Mexico for the problem of illegal immigration rather than own up to the fact there wouldn't be a problem if employers on this side of the border weren't gobbling up illegal workers.

It's as if we're desperately pleading with our neighbor, "Stop us before we hire again."

Meanwhile, many Mexicans find it easier to worry about the welfare of the most desperate members of their society only after those poor souls have taken up residence in the U.S.

For most of the 20th century, leaders from Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party simply ignored those citizens who went over to el otro lado (the other side). National pride dictated that those who jilted Mexico to pursue a life in the U.S. be treated as gone and forgotten.

Vicente Fox changed that. As the conservative National Action Party candidate and later as president, he visited immigrant communities throughout the U.S. and repeatedly referred to Mexican expatriates as "heroes" because of their contributions to both countries.

That was admirable. In light of the more than $20 billion that Mexicans living in the United States send home yearly, the expatriates deserve some respect. But Fox also took to meddling in U.S. immigration policy, which didn't sit well with Americans.

When new Mexican President Felipe Calderon assumed office 10 months ago, he seemed committed to avoiding the trap that ensnared his predecessor: defining the entire U.S.-Mexico relationship in terms of the immigration issue. For a while, Calderon pulled it off. But, while he was holding his tongue, Congress was once again mishandling immigration reform.

Now with comprehensive reform on ice, Calderon may have decided that there is no upside to staying out of the game. The problem is, the first thing he did after coming off the bench was fumble.

Last week, the Mexican president used his state of the union address to fire away at the Bush administration for its plans to build border fencing and "unilateral measures ... that exacerbate the persecution and the humiliating treatment of undocumented Mexican workers."

Calderon also lamented the "insensitivity" of the U.S. government toward foreign workers and pledged to protect the rights of Mexicans no matter where they live.

Calderon recovered his fumble when he scolded Mexico for not creating enough jobs, not doing enough to improve education, not cracking down enough on tax cheats, and not finding enough fiscal alternatives to the country's oil reserves.

If Mexico made those reforms and others such as cracking down on corruption, it might create an environment where more Mexicans would want to stay rather than travel to the U.S.

Bravo for Calderon. That message should be plastered on billboards all over Mexico. Which makes all the more disappointing a meeting Calderon had with Elvira Arellano -- a single mother who lived in Chicago as an illegal immigrant before being deported to Mexico and, for awhile, separated from her child. Nonetheless, Calderon promised his help in getting Arellano, 32, a visa so she could return to the U.S.

That was a mistake. Here's what Calderon should have promised: "Elvira, Mexico is broken. And I promise to fix it -- so that, in the future, other people won't have to go through what you've gone through."

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune, P.O. Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191. Send e-mail to ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pb ... 90309/1001

No, Calderon should use Elvira to promote and change Mexico! Keep her there to fight for reform!

i've gotten to the point i don't give a crapppp about mexico. the only country i worry about it the United States. BUILD THE WALL!! throw employers in jail if they hire illegals. tax the churches if they break US law and aid & abet. NO SOCIAL SERVICES FOR ILLEGALS!!!! in other words take care of our country and our people.


and one more thing make the name elvira illegal to ever be given to any US citizen...

RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR. - Gives me nausea everytime I read one of his articles.

So the citizens are to take responsibilty for what corporations or businesses do, I don't think so you idiot.

We the citizens are the ones being abused by the mexican and U.S. government and then we are destroyed by the illegals with the destruction and dismemberment of our towns,schools, hospitals and social services we the American taxpayer pays for.

WE ARE THE ONES BEING USED AND ABUSED!!! you need to get that straight "oh" and our children are suffering from the lack of education they deserve.