Mexican Diplomat "meddling" in community

[jannidot]

Mexican diplomat visits key members of local community
Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal



By Daniel Connolly
Contact
July 29, 2007
When Andres Chao came to Memphis on Saturday for his first official visit as head of Mexico's new consulate in Little Rock, he was invited to meet representatives of global businesses, but decided instead to visit key people in the local Mexican community.
"My first step or intention to visit here is to know the community, to feel what are the problems of the community, what are the needs of the community," the 42-year-old career diplomat said after a gathering at an auditorium in El Mercadito, a Hispanic shopping mall in Hickory Hill.

Chao said he'll return to Memphis in the near future to meet corporate leaders and civil authorities.
The Hispanic Business Alliance organized the event and invited representatives of groups including local churches, social service agencies and Spanish-language media. About 30 people attended.

The meeting was conducted almost entirely in Spanish and underscored the challenges that Chao and his colleagues face as they try to provide services to a far-flung, growing population that includes large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Chao said the consulate has a staff of 10 and represents as many as 1 million Mexicans living in West Tennessee, eastern Oklahoma as well as all of Arkansas and Mississippi.

He told the group that the consulate handles everything from assistance to jailed Mexicans to help in making arrangements to transport the dead back to their home country.

The office has faced heavy demand for Mexican passports and matricula consular identification cards since its official opening in April, he said. Chao said there's a six-week waiting list for the in-person appointments required to get the documents.

Immigrants are often willing to drive hundreds of miles or stand in line for hours to obtain the documents because they are a key means to identify themselves to local governments and open bank accounts. That's especially true for immigrants who lack other identification.

Critics have said Mexico is helping illegal immigrants establish lives here. Chao dismissed that, saying that international law gives many countries the right to offer such documents to their citizens abroad.

During the meeting, soccer league organizer and newspaper publisher Jose Luis Escobar asked if Mexican officials planned to hold more one-day "mobile consulate" events in Memphis to provide the coveted documents. In March, the last such event here attracted hundreds. Police were called after some in the crowd became angry about how the consulate was handling appointments.

Chao said the Little Rock consulate, which is about two hours' drive from Memphis, doesn't plan more mobile consulate events here this year. It will hold them in places much further away from Little Rock, such as southern Mississippi.

In response to a question about new laws in Tennessee and other states meant to crack down on illegal immigration, Chao said he can only go so far in his advocacy.

"As a diplomat, I have a limit," he said. But he said the civil leaders gathered in the room could do more and expressed hope that many such laws would be found unconstitutional.

Mexican consulate

Telephone: (501) 372-6933

Address: 3500 South University Ave., Little Rock

On the Web: portal.sre.gob.mx/littlerock

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/loc ... %2C00.html

[zeezil]

After reading Mr. Chao's remarks in this article, I just had to send him a welcoming letter:

July 29, 2007

Dear Mr. Andres Chao:

First, I’d like to congratulate you on your appointment as the head of Mexico’s new consulate in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the July 29 article on the commercialappealonline.com Memphis online newspaper, you dismissed critics that said Mexico is helping illegal immigrants establish lives here. You stated that providing documents to Mexicans in the U.S. is allowed by international law, which gives many countries the right to offer such documents to their citizens abroad. Really, Mr. Chao? If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask that you provide me with the international law that allows foreign governments to aid and abet the operation of their citizens who are in another country ILLEGALLY. In America, just as in Mexico, we distinguish between LEGAL and ILLEGAL immigrants. If you are providing documents to ILLEGAL Mexican immigrants that allow them to operate in the U.S., then you are in violation of our immigration laws. You need to be very careful in who you provide documents to in my country. I’m sure you realize that under under Mexican law, it is a felony to be an illegal alien in Mexico. Though not a felony here, it is still a crime and the perpetrator can be deported. In Mexico, those that aid in illegal immigration can be sent to prison. That also applies in my country. Also, I’m sure your aware that according to Article 116 of Mexican Immigration Law, foreigners in Mexico with fake immigration papers may be fined or imprisoned. That outcome also applies in my country.

As you know, the Mexican constitution expressly forbids non-citizens to participate in the country’s political life. Non-citizens are forbidden to participate in demonstrations or express opinions in public about domestic politics. Article 9 states, “only citizens of the Republic may do so to take part in the political affairs of the country.â€