http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandfork ... 400841.htm

April 21, 2006
Latino leaders to discuss `Great American Boycott' in Mexico City
BY DIANNE SOLIS AND ALFREDO CORCHADO
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - Mexico's government will hold an unusual meeting Monday in Mexico City of U.S. Latino leaders, who expect officials there to urge them to reconsider the call for a May 1 boycott of U.S. businesses.

Latino leaders, including several from Dallas, said the meeting would be a "give and take" on immigrant issues and recent protests. They said the Mexican government was concerned that the proposed boycott would undermine their common efforts to win support for the immigrant cause.

"We're in favor of a more moderate tone," said one Mexican official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The meeting comes as debate rises over whether the May 1 events - called the "Great American Boycott" - might damage attempts to pass legislation that would legalize great portions of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants. Protests were ignited around the country because of other proposed legislation that would have made instant felons of the nation's illegal immigrants.

An official with the Foreign Ministry said the meeting was aimed at "sharing information with them (immigrants) about the current debate about immigration in the U.S. Congress." The official said the meeting was called at the request of Latino leaders who sit on a Mexican government advisory council.

"We want America to notice us, to notice our economic and consumer power, to take us into account for that one day," said Nancy Guerrero of Dallas, who plans to attend the meeting in Mexico City. "We pay on time and we pay in cash. We're great consumers. Don't take us for granted."

But Guerrero - like many Mexican immigrants - is wary of the Mexican government and its intentions. Some immigrants believe their clout has grown in Mexico with the swelling stream of $20 billion sent annually back to the homeland. Migrant dollars, or remittances, are nearly as large a source of foreign revenue as petroleum.

"The Mexican government shouldn't be involved in any of this," Guerrero said. "They shouldn't try to tell us what to do. We have to defend our rights on our own."

In March, as student walkouts and protests spread across the United States, the Mexican government ordered its 46 consulates to stay away from the marches, fearing a backlash among anti-immigrant groups. With a tragic history of foreign interventions in Mexico, the Mexican government long ago adopted a strict policy of non-interference in policy debates of the United States, in the hopes that the United States would do the same.

There have been some historical exceptions, and this appears to be another one.

In 2002, Mexico's Foreign Relations Ministry established the Institute of Mexicans Abroad to strengthen ties with the growing Mexican migrant population in the U.S. There are now about 225 former and current members, including more than a dozen from the Dallas area, and they meet regularly to consult with the administration of President Vicente Fox.

They come from immigrant communities as diverse as Miami and Fresno, Calif., Dallas and Del Rio, Texas, Houston and Los Angeles.

Even as they press for reforms on in Washington, they are also pressing for reforms in Mexico - the chief country of origin for illegal and legal immigration to the United States.

"We don't want them (the Mexican government) to applaud us," said Mario Ramirez, a member of the institute and an owner of a chain of taquerias and bakeries in the Dallas area. "We want commitments from them."

Ramirez said he wants Mexican authorities to commit to economic development, job creation, and the expansion of credit for entrepreneurs in Mexico. "They have co-responsibility for why so many of us are here," he said.

And with so much money flowing back to Mexico in remittances, "we are basically supporting the country," said the businessman, who also sends money back to his mother.

A few members of the institute are U.S. citizens of Mexican descent with roots that go back several generations. Among that group are Hector Flores, a Dallas school administrator who is the national president of a Texas-founded advocacy group, the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Like Guerrero and Ramirez, Flores plans to accept the Mexican invitation to attend a meeting with officials from the Foreign Relations Ministry.

The spontaneity and size of the marches has surprised many, from established Latino leaders to Capitol Hill politicos and the Fox administration. The largest marches have been in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

And Dallas is the venue that has gotten the most attention. Unlike Los Angeles and Chicago, Dallas doesn't have a storied history of activism. Nor was it known as an immigrant gateway. Through most of the 20th century, the foreign-born represented less than 10 percent of the Dallas area's population. Now more than a quarter of Dallas residents are foreign-born.

And in a 2004 report by the Brookings Institution, the Dallas and Fort Worth areas were highlighted as two of the nation's top four emerging gateways for immigrants.

As many as 500,000 protesters, largely Latino, filled downtown Dallas on April 9 to bring attention to the immigration issue.

Now, many are trying to funnel the chaotic energy of Dallas and other cities into lobbying the U.S. Congress for legalization of a portion, or all, of the nation's illegal immigrants. Congress is expected to take up the issue again as early as next week.

Already in Dallas, at least, there are efforts to counter the proposed boycott by immigrants and their supporters.

"We're telling our members if you have a big-ticket item that you want to purchase, wait till May 1 to shop," said Jean Towell, the Dallas-based president of Citizens for Immigration Reform, a group that supports tougher enforcement of immigration laws. "We're saying to our group, go out and shop and show that we can carry the economy without illegal immigrants."