Thread: N.Y. University Professor blames U.S. for Migrant Massacre

Jorge Castaneda Blames U.S. for Migrant Massacre
By Jerry Kammer, September 2, 2010

"Immigration Reform or More Massacres."

That's the provocative headline of today's column in the Mexican daily Reforma by Jorge Castaneda, who as Mexico's foreign secretary from 2000 to 2003 pushed the Bush administration to pass "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation. He is now Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.

Castaneda believes that unless the U.S. accepts the inevitability of large-scale migration of low-wage workers, it will be at fault for more slaughter like last week's horrific massacre of 72 illegal immigrants in the border state of Tamaulipas.

Castaneda's thesis is that the absence of legislation to provide not only sweeping legalization for illegal immigrants but also a steady source of low-wage workers for American employers led inevitably to the slaughter.

There is general agreement that the drug gang responsible for mowing down the migrants is one of many criminal organizations attracted to smuggling by the rising costs of the trade. There is also agreement that costs have risen because professional guides are increasingly necessary as the difficulty of making the journey has increased.

Castaneda does not directly credit the buildup of the Border Patrol. Ultimately, he believes, enforcement at the border is futile given the cheap-labor hunger of U.S. employers and the determination of desperate migrants. But he does acknowledge that in recent years "it has become much more difficult to enter the United States without papers..As the risk increases, the cost rises and the business becomes more juicy."

Castaneda likens the phenomenon to the rising profitability of smuggling illegal drugs, claiming that it breeds not only competition among criminal gangs but also corruption amongst officials on both sides of the border. "One way or another, the explication of the massacre...surely lies in this process," he writes. Then he assigns blame:

"Many are at fault. The sending countries incapable of providing work to their people. The Mexican authorities who have neglected the southern border and internal immigration for decades. But most of all the United States, which by refusing to adapt its laws to reality just changes that reality for the worse into horror."

http://cis.org/kammer/castaneda-migrant-massacre






Jorge Castañeda, Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies


Jorge Castañeda is a renowned public intellectual, political scientist, and prolific writer, with an interest in Latin American politics, comparative politics and U.S.-Latin American relations. He was Foreign Minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003, and in that position he focused on diverse issues in U.S.-Mexican relations, including migration, trade, security, and narcotics control; joint diplomatic initiatives on the part of Latin American nations; and the promotion of Mexican economic and trade relations globally.

Born in Mexico City in 1953, Dr. Castañeda received undergraduate degrees from both Princeton University and Universite de Paris-I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), an M.A. from The Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes, Paris I, and his Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Paris. He has taught at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), Princeton and U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Castañeda was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1985-87), and was a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Grant Recipient (1989-1991). He is a member of the Board of Human Rights Watch, and since 2003 has hosted “Voices of Latin American Leadersâ€

oh Give me a break!

Its also our fault Pluto is no longer a Planet...Im a gonna cry

/sarcasm off

I knew someone would try to stretch this as the fault of Americans. lol
Pathetic idiots...

Golly gee, I didn't know that this university professor was such a genius. Hurry everyone, let's scurry to him and grovel at his feet as the new messiah on intellectual wisdom

Like the saying goes, "Opinions are like az#@$#$.....everybody has one.

Jorge Castañeda sounds like a man who is basically dishonorable to this country in spite of his professional positions. But then his loyalty is to Mexico. People like this are not interested in the prosperity and stability of American families but are instead involved with the infusion and justification of foreign nationals into society. Very typical of One Worldists.

And not one word of what this open migration and flooding of this country with 3rd world peasants would do and have done to Americans

This idiot makes me puke

He is partly right, if they could not get jobs, benefits, or birthright citizenship many would not come.

first off the name says it all "Jorge Castaneda"

Second off ..... See what Crack does to ya boys and girls.. it gives you delusions of grandeur and makes you believe you are important in other countries

Drag your goat smelling backside back to your mud hut in your broke a@@ 3rd world 17th century throwback of a country and watch us clean up our Mud Hut and the newest 3rd world country courtasy of El Commandante Obama

Castaneda believes that unless the U.S. accepts the inevitability of large-scale migration of low-wage workers, it will be at fault for more slaughter like last week's horrific massacre of 72 illegal immigrants in the border state of Tamaulipas.

Are you kidding me? This jerk makes it sound like the illegals are not at fault at all. Everyone in Mexico has heard about the violence south of our border. And knowing this, if they are that stupid to try it anyway, it tells me how dumb they are. And let me tell you something, Castaneda, the illegal aliens who come here, or try to come here, are not the responsibility of the American people. If you want to point fingers, point it south to the Mexican government and get out of our face! We are tired of being told to move over for the criminals who come here illegally.

You must understand, the mexicans will do or say ANYTHING if it means they can bring this country of ours down. As long as Obama and Bushface will listen to them, they will push even harder.