Thread: CIS' Kammer: Sarmiento Rare Voice in the Mexican press

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Jerry Kammer's blog

A Rare Voice in the Spanish-Language Press
By Jerry Kammer, July 30, 2010

The Spanish language press coverage of Arizona's controversial SB 1070 has been remarkable for the narrowness of its perspective. The pervasive message is this: Those who oppose it are noble defenders of human rights, while those who support it are anti-immigrant racists. This attitude is reflected in public opinion in Mexico where, as political columnist Sergio Sarmiento writes, "Many Mexicans have begun to shred their garments because of the law."

Sarmiento goes on to offer a point of view that shows admirable independence from the group-think that is characteristic in the immigration coverage of Spanish-language media on both sides of the border. The Mexican press, in particular, is often bluntly nationalistic and quick to condemn opposition to illegal immigration as "anti-immigrant" and "racist." Mexican reporters rarely make an effort to pursue possibilities that would show that much of the opposition to mass illegal-immigration from Mexico is based on legitimate concerns.

"The truth," Sarmiento wrote this week, "is that Mexicans discriminate against foreigners more than Americans."

Despite the fact that a scant one-half of one-percent of those who live in Mexico were born outside the country, 38 percent of Mexicans think that the number of foreigners living in the country is very high, Sarmiento writes. By contrast, he notes, that 12.6 percent of the U.S, population was born elsewhere.

"If we talk about immigrants' rights, 65.9 percent of Mexicans surveyed think that foreigners have no right to criticize what happens in the country," he writes. Such a figure makes one wonder how Mexicans would react if tens of thousands of Americans living illegally in Mexico took to the streets to demand legal status. After discussing other examples of Mexican hostility to foreigners, Sarmiento draws this conclusion: "Perhaps one could blame these xenophobic attitudes on ignorance. What we can't do, however, is question the United States for its laws when we have laws that are considerably more restrictive

http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Artic ... IdCat=6115

Editorials
Foreign
debate.com.mx | Sergio Sarmiento | Updated : 29/07/2010 7:23:00 |


Extranjeros and Strangers

A CNN / Opinion Research Corporation revealed recently that 55 percent of Americans favor of SB 1070 for Arizona despite acknowledging that generate discrimination. Only 40 percent oppose it.

Many Mexicans have already started to tear their hair before the law. The truth , however , is that Mexicans discriminate more to foreigners than Americans.

Few studies have been done of Mexican attitudes towards strangers . A poll by the Strategic Communications Office in October 2009 indicated that 38.1 % percent of Mexicans consider the number of foreigners living in the country is very high, against 37.7 % percent who say no. What is surprising is that only 0.5 percent of our residents are born abroad , a very small number . In contrast, in the United States 12.6% percent of the population was born outside the country. It seems unlikely that anyone could assume that there are too many foreigners in Mexico.

If we speak of the rights of immigrants, 65.9 % percent of Mexicans surveyed think that foreigners have no right to criticize what is happening in the country.

While Mexicans tend to think that we are very open, that a tiny percentage of the population is born in other countries should alert us to our mistake. In Mexico there is an attitude of mistrust that sometimes results in blatant disregard foreigners: Americans, Spanish, Argentine , Chilean , Lebanese, Jewish, African . We have immigration rules that would be unacceptable to almost anywhere in the world, such as one requiring an immigrant to live under the economic dependence of the Mexican spouse instead of promoting their participation in the workforce. Also discriminatory is the rule that sets a limit to the number of foreigners a company can hire . Foreigners are also prohibited from purchasing property in the border or the coast of Mexico (while the Mexicans have invested tens of billions of dollars in U.S. property ).

In the case of Central American immigrants or blacks social and racial discrimination is open. The difficulties for a foreign worker to obtain technical or residence in Mexico are huge no matter what benefits Mexico may have from their work. The law , moreover , that the penalty for loss of employment of an alien is immediate expulsion from the country, as if losing a job is a crime .

For decades, Mexicans whose parents were born abroad could not occupy the Presidency of the Republic. While the restrictive legislation had been amended to permit dual nationality for Mexicans who have it naturalized citizens are barred from public office relevant or to have certain jobs, such as commercial aircraft pilot . Worst of all is that international studies show that migration , rather than depriving locals of jobs , produce economic growth and prosperity for all.

Perhaps one can blame ignorance for the xenophobic attitudes . What we can not do, however, is for us to continue challenging the U.S. for its laws when we have a much more restrictive legislation that has meant that the number of foreigners in our country is one of the lowest in the world.


Suspension. The temporary and partial suspension of parts of Arizona SB 1070 will not solve the problem of Mexican migrants. The only real solution is simple. Let substantive economic reforms that allow us to be more productive. One of these reforms would be to open our labor market instead of keeping it tied up with rules worse than those of the United States.


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