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Immigration expert nominated for Nobel

By Norma de la Vega
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2006

Mexico's Congress nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last week a pioneering immigration researcher from Tijuana.

Jorge Bustamante, 67, said the nomination is in itself an award.

"In the past there have been up to 100 nominations, so I consider this a remote possibility, but the process has begun," he said.

With 30 years of research in immigration from Mexico to the United States, Bustamante is considered an international expert. He was founder and president until 1998 of the prestigious think tank, Colegio de la Frontera Norte, located south of Tijuana, and has received numerous awards.

He's now a lecturer at the University of Notre Dame and the Colegio de Mexico.

He said there should be more awareness about the need to protect the human rights and labor rights of immigrants worldwide, particularly in Mexico.

"Mexican immigrants in the United States are funding, through their remittances home, social peace in Mexico."

He said that in the United States the work of immigrants should also be valued because of their contribution to the American economy.

He said it's not the construction of a new border fence that he finds most worrisome, rather the proposed legislation and ballot initiatives that criminalize undocumented immigrants.

He cited the bill proposed by U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., which would deny U.S. citizenship to babies born in this country to undocumented immigrants.

"This is not only unconstitutional but a grave act of xenophobia," Bustamante said.

The selection process for the Nobel Peace Prize takes about a year. The awards will be presented Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway, to the individuals or organizations judged to have advanced world peace.