Thread: Latin American leaders seek better U.S. treatment of migrant

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/ ... 881352.htm

Posted on Wed, Feb. 15, 2006


Latin American leaders seek better U.S. treatment of migrants

BY PABLO BACHELET
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Eleven Latin American nations, alarmed at what they perceive as growing anti-immigration sentiment in the United States, have started to lobby Washington for better treatment of their migrants.

"We want to create more understanding of the importance of immigrants to this country," Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco said Wednesday.

The initiative was launched Monday in a meeting of foreign ministers and other senior officials in Cartagena, Colombia. A delegation of foreign ministers from Colombia, Mexico, Panama and El Salvador later flew to Washington, where on Tuesday they dined with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The four countries are among the closest allies of the Bush administration in Latin America. The other nations in the group are Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Together, migrants from those nations living in the United States send $32 billion in remittances to relatives back home.

The initiative reflects the increased nervousness in Latin America over the sharpening immigration debate in the United States. Mexicans have been infuriated by a House proposal to build a wall along part of the U.S.-Mexico border and other proposals that would make it harder for U.S. companies to hire illegal immigrants.

President Bush wants Congress to institute a new temporary-worker program that would allow migrants to work legally in the United States for six years. Although this provides a way for about 11 million illegal migrants in the country to obtain a legal status, it falls short of offering those in the country a green card.

Mexico has repeatedly argued that immigration reform would fail to bring immigration under control if it does not provide those already here with a path toward permanent residence.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13883705.htm

Posted on Thu, Feb. 16, 2006

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Immigration debate is international headache

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

There is a new element in the U.S. domestic debate over a congressional bill that would turn millions of undocumented immigrants into criminals and build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border: It is rapidly becoming an international issue, which will further strain U.S. ties with Latin America.

On Tuesday, foreign ministers from four Latin American countries -- Mexico, Colombia, Panama and El Salvador -- flew to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and voice their alarm about the House bill, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., which was passed Dec. 16. The Senate is scheduled to debate the bill in coming weeks.

Rice's dinner meeting with the four Latin American envoys -- whose countries included some of the Bush administration's closest allies in the region -- came a day after 11 foreign ministers and vice ministers from Latin America met in Cartagena, Colombia, to devise a joint strategy against the U.S. anti-immigration proposal.

''This is an issue of vital importance for U.S.-Latin American relations, because it deals with the human dimension of our bilateral ties,'' says Mexico's ambassador to Washington, Carlos de Icaza.

Indeed, Latin American officials say the proposed U.S. law would violate the human rights of millions of their countrymen -- both legal and illegal residents -- by turning virtually all Hispanics into suspected criminals and by driving new waves of migrants to seek more dangerous crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Already, about 300 would-be immigrants are dying every year while trying to cross the border.

The Bush administration says it ''strongly supports'' the Sensenbrenner bill, while adding that it would like Congress to include in it a temporary guest worker program.

The Sensenbrenner bill has unified almost every country in the region -- and political parties across the political spectrum within each of them -- against what many Latin Americans see as an increasingly hypocritical Washington, which preaches free trade, security cooperation and love-thy-neighbor diplomacy but at the same time plans to build walls along its southern border.

At stake is not only the future of up to 11 million undocumented workers in the United States, but also the $32 billion sent annually by migrants from the 11 countries to relatives in Latin America. In some countries, such as Mexico and El Salvador, remittances have become a major source of economic growth, which could slow down if there were massive deportations of undocumented workers.

Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis told me in a telephone interview Wednesday that the migration issue, coming just after the U.S. announcement of a possible 28 percent cut in U.S. development aid to Latin America, is adding ``a new point of conflict to U.S.-Latin American relations, which could poison other issues on the bilateral agenda.''

El Salvador's Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez, whose country may be the closest Bush administration ally in the region, said in a separate phone interview that a massive deportation of undocumented migrants would not only hurt the U.S. economy, but ''will endanger the fragile democracies'' of the region.

'It would give populists the chance to say, `Let's try something else,' '' Lainez said.

Members of the group of 11 countries that met in Cartagena plan to launch a lobbying campaign in Washington next week to seek a comprehensive immigration law that calls for a guest workers program, preferably with some avenues for migrants to eventually become permanent residents.

As long as the U.S. labor market continues to require 500,000 low-skilled workers a year and provides only 5,000 visas for them, the flood of undocumented workers will continue, they say. In addition, the proposed 700-mile fence along the 2,000-mile border will not stop illegal migration, because would-be migrants would come through the Canadian border, digging tunnels, or through more dangerous crossings, they say.

My conclusion: Whatever you think of it, the U.S. Senate debate could hardly come at a worse moment.

This is a year of congressional elections in the United States and presidential elections in Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Populists on both sides of the border are almost sure to escalate the rhetoric.

The smartest thing to do would be to postpone the whole Senate debate until after the November elections. By then, cooler heads will make smarter decisions.

My turn to tackle one.....

First sentence: There is a new element in the U.S. domestic debate over a congressional bill that would turn millions of undocumented immigrants into criminals and build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border:

It wouldn't turn them into criminals, they were criminals the second they crossed the border.

And then: Indeed, Latin American officials say the proposed U.S. law would violate the human rights of millions of their countrymen -- both legal and illegal residents -

Their countrymen's human rights are being violated by the brutal and despotic regimes IN THEIR COUNTRY!

- by turning virtually all Hispanics into suspected criminals and by driving new waves of migrants to seek more dangerous crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Those countries are the one's doing the driving, not us.

Next we get: At stake is not only the future of up to 11 million undocumented workers in the United States, but also the $32 billion sent annually by migrants from the 11 countries to relatives in Latin America. In some countries, such as Mexico and El Salvador, remittances have become a major source of economic growth, which could slow down if there were massive deportations of undocumented workers.

'Undocumented workers' translates into ILLEGAL ALIENS, and $32 billion is a lot of money.

Here comes the double-speak: Members of the group of 11 countries that met in Cartagena plan to launch a lobbying campaign in Washington next week to seek a comprehensive immigration law that calls for a guest workers program, preferably with some avenues for migrants to eventually become permanent residents.

Guest workers, permanent residents...WHO are THEY lobbying? Did they take lessons from Jack?

Next talking point?: As long as the U.S. labor market continues to require 500,000 low-skilled workers a year and provides only 5,000 visas for them, the flood of undocumented workers will continue, they say.

The labor market doesn't REQUIRE them. American workers ARE the labor market. Big business DESIRES them because they're cheap and disposable.

Oh, the FENCE: In addition, the proposed 700-mile fence along the 2,000-mile border will not stop illegal migration, because would-be migrants would come through the Canadian border, digging tunnels, or through more dangerous crossings, they say.

It will stop it for 700 miles, and that's a GOOD START! Just how would these 'migrants' GET to Canada?

And finally: The smartest thing to do would be to postpone the whole Senate debate until after the November elections. By then, cooler heads will make smarter decisions.

America can wait NO LONGER! If this issue does not come to a roll call vote, enforce the Patriot's Pledge and throw them out.[/quote]

The smartest thing to do would be to postpone the whole Senate debate until after the November elections. By then, cooler heads will make smarter decisions.

If we let them get away with this, they'll do whatever they want to, after the elction is over. We have to demand that they pass the Sensenbrenner bill, before the November elections.


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