Thread: {SOB}U.S. errs in its denial of tourist visas to Mexicans

U.S. errs in its denial of tourist visas to Mexicans
Linda Valdez
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 30, 2007 12:00 AM

We chatted in the living room of his mother's house, which was comfortable and completely unlike it had been 17 years ago when I first visited.

In those days, Toñita's house didn't have a living room. The walls were made of mud and cactus ribs then, and it was dark and damp inside. The tiny kitchen had only enough room for a table and a treadle sewing machine. Every evening, cots would be opened and lined up in two back rooms where the family of seven slept. During the day, the cots were folded up so people had space to move around and get dressed.

The floors were hard-packed dirt. The toilet was an outhouse. To shower, you had to pump water, heat it on a butane stove, pour it into a 5-gallon plastic tub and carry it to an outdoor enclosure. advertisement




Like many of the homes in the villages surrounding Los Mochis, Sinaloa in western Mexico, Toñita's house has undergone a huge transformation. It was rebuilt over the years room by room with brick and concrete. Big windows now let in the light.

There's a bathroom with running water. The kitchen has a sink and cabinets. The whole place was expanded to include a dining and living room. The floors are tiled. The walls are painted and dotted with family pictures, including an 11-by-17 framed photo of my daughter emerging from the doorway in a cloud of pink netting that was her Quinceañera dress.

Many people would attribute the improvements in my husband's sister's house to remittances from illegal immigrants in the United States. Americans are conditioned to make such assumptions about Mexico.

But Toñita's house was not rebuilt that way. Her children paid for her upgrades without ever leaving Mexico.

Her husband's hard work in agriculture cost him an eye, but it never paid enough to lift them above subsistence. The kids learned from his experience. They studied. They got good jobs. Their mother says their prosperity was a result of la ayuda de Dios, or the help of God.

God gets credit for every good thing that happens to this family. This, too, runs contrary to the unflattering image of Mexicans that Americans have allowed themselves to accept.

Two of Toñita's boys work as electricians for the government, the third is involved in computers and computer training, also for the Mexican government. The two daughters married well, and they help, too.

It's a matter of pride in Mexico to assist your parents and your in-laws. This is something else you don't hear on AM talk radio or the other U.S. media outlets that specialize in whipping up fears about "invaders" from south of the border.

The fearmongers talk about Mexicans as shadowy villains who cross the border illegally because they refuse to "wait in line" and "come the right way."

Of course, these commentators don't tell you there is no real line or any realistic expectation that waiting will result in permission to cross the border to find work. Even average Mexicans who just want to visit face ridiculous obstacles.

That brings us back to my recent conversation with one of my nephews in Toñita's tidy living room.

He showed me a folder of carefully prepared papers. One was a letter from his employer, notarized and on an official letterhead, saying he had been working for 2½ years and would have a job for the foreseeable future. These were papers he had been told to take with him to the American Consulate in Hermosillo, Sonora to apply for a non-immigrant tourist visa.

He followed the process. He paid $100. He stood in line. He waited his turn. He said his appointment lasted less than a minute.

The interviewer asked why he wanted to go to the United States. "Just to look around and see what it is like," he replied. That's what tourists do, isn't it?

Apparently not. They kept his money and gave him a form letter of refusal. It said the interviewer was not convinced he would return to Mexico after entering the United States. He can bring another $100 and try again in six months. Outside, he met a number of others who had been in line with him. They all had the same form letter. They were all $100 poorer and no wiser about why they had been turned down.

He asked if I could explain it, but I couldn't.

There is no good reason why an earnest young man who has a steady job in Mexico should be denied a tourist visa. There are only bad reasons.

A bunch of opportunists spouting anti-Mexican rhetoric have turned this nation's legitimate frustration over illegal immigration into something mean. The utter failure of politicians to face this problem has left many Americans too angry to remember how much they have in common with their Mexican neighbors.

I didn't want to tell him that Mexicans who honor their parents and their God and cover their walls with family pictures are viewed with such suspicion that my country resists providing a dignified, legal mechanism for them to cross the border.

So I told him the next time he goes to the consulate, he should say he wants to go to the United States so he can shop and spend money.

It might work.

We may not love our neighbors, but America still loves commerce.



Reach the author at linda.valdez@arizonarepublic.com or join her blog at http://www.azcentral.com/members/ Blog/Valdez.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... dez30.html

"Of course, these commentators don't tell you there is no real line or any realistic expectation that waiting will result in permission to cross the border to find work"


And they feel that just because they don't agree with our laws
and our system for legal entry it is somehow wrong or discriminating?

There is a reason that not every one of the billions that want to come
here are not allowed in

Legal immigration done legally is one thing but just throwing open
the door to all is just wrong

btw , 80% of all illegal from Mexico give up a job in Mexico
to sneak in here

Well gee, Linda, do you think your nephew would have such a 'problem' if there weren't 20 million of his fellow Mexican citizens living here in violation of our immigration laws??

Of course, these commentators don't tell you there is no real line or any realistic expectation that waiting will result in permission to cross the border to find work

So, if the line at Walmart is too long, I can just take what I want and walk out the door, right?

So I guess the theory is that it's easier to seek forgiveness later than to get permission beforehand.

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

Well gee, Linda, do you think your nephew would have such a 'problem' if there weren't 20 million of his fellow Mexican citizens living here in violation of our immigration laws??

Mexicans creed "Never take responsibility for your actions if you can blame it on an American instead".

She talks about the pride of taking care of ones parents, grandparents, etc. She talks about her nephews and how they went to school, got good jobs, etc. She talks about how her nephew tried to go through the proper channels to come to the US. Her article extols the virtues of everyone around her. But, she never mentions the million of her countrymen who break the law and enter the US illegally. Or that they steal identities, drive drunk, murder and rape our people, not to mention drive down wages, drain our education and medical systems, etc, etc, etc. Funny how her people are so pure and good and yet when in the United States they have no regard for our people or our laws. I'm amazed that she's offended that we aren't letting people into the country without a good reason. How many millions have overstayed their visas? I am so sick and tired of the sob stories. If they think they have it so bad here, why don't they just leave?

Originally Posted by PinestrawGuys

Well gee, Linda, do you think your nephew would have such a 'problem' if there weren't 20 million of his fellow Mexican citizens living here in violation of our immigration laws??

You hit the nail on the head!

His visa request was rightfully denied if that was the answer he gave. No visas should be approved for ANY mexican or central american "tourists" until the illegal mexicans here are deported or self-deport in huge numbers.

Seems like this family did what it had to do to become successful in Mexico and I applaud them for staying and making home a better place.

Its not that they come here because there are no jobs or
opportunities in their countries, they come here for the magnets

We offer them all this free stuff , take away the free stuff and they
will quit coming

I've often said our biggest enemies are the libs and rinos that
keep giving everything away to them

Maybe they should send this story to LaRaza and they can spread the word that their are success stories in Mexico, maybe one of their family members will be sucessful and help them out! you know since they are so big on helping extended families.