Mexico's Migrants
Wounded on Both Sides of the Border
"Language
about being 'pro-immigrant' is bandied about for the purpose of capturing
votes, but at the moment of truth, after having obtained a coveted post, no one
remembers. To recall only the most recent examples, the same can be said of
Obama and Calderon - and its our poor countrymen that find themselves caught
between two fires."
The abominable anti-immigrant
law SB 1070, signed last Friday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, comes on top of
the already long list of actions taken against Mexicans who work in the United
States. But it also confirms what's already common knowledge: our leaders make
promises and never keep their word; here and there, language about being
"pro-immigrant" is bandied about for the purpose of capturing votes,
but at the moment of truth, after having obtained a coveted post, no one
remembers. To recall only the most recent examples, the same can be said of
Obama and Calderón - and it's our poor countrymen that find themselves caught
between two fires.
During his presidential
campaign, Obama promised to "diligently" push an immigration law that
would benefit the parties involved. Two years later he has categorically
failed, despite how the so-called Hispanic vote contributed to his victory. The
same happened with Calderón, who, his sluggish reaction notwithstanding,
promised during his campaign, to:
"Insist on a migration
agreement that honors the protection of human rights as well as recognizing the
contribution of migrant labor to the host country's economy; increases
bilateral cooperation by analyzing a number of options on the issue of
migration, trade and security and promotes an immigration pact based on
programs for providing temporary employment; redoubles efforts to guarantee
protection for and recognition of the rights of migrants abroad and improves
consular services, transforming Consulates into real advocates of our
communities abroad."
Four years later, almost no
one even remembers. In their time, Fox and Bush, Zedillo and Clinton - and
Salinas and Clinton - sang precisely the same tune; and one could keep counting
backwards and add the names of Congress people, senators and political parties.
Arizona is the first state of
our northern neighbor that has promulgated a law that openly violated the human
rights of migrants and trumps federal law - no matter what the consequences.
And so there would be nothing unusual if other states followed the bad example
of Governor Brewer, particularly in light of the inaction and broken promises
of Barack Obama and the complicit silence from tenant of Los Pinos (let's not annoy
the neighbors). Despite this travesty of justice, the infamous Jan Brewer is
right about one thing, "We're acting due to the absence of action on the
part of the federal government." This certainly fills the vacuum - just
not for the better.
This vacuum also exists at
Los Pinos and the Foreign Ministry, which is reflected in the prolonged absence
of a Mexican Consul General in Phoenix, the capital of Arizona - just as law SB
1070 was being developed. Indeed, it took at least six months before the
glacial Senate of our republic ratified the nomination of Víctor Manuel
Trevińo Escudero to that post on April 13. In spite of it all, he still
hasn't taken up his post (as was confirmed to us by phone yesterday night by the
office of the Consulate General of Mexico in Phoenix).
According to the Senate of
the republic, Trevińo Escudero, "presented to the consultive
commission a plan of action he would initiate if he is confirmed. In that plan,
he sets out the major themes for the work for the Consulate General of Mexico
in Phoenix: To develop a specific message
for [U.S.] political leaders who have been against or remain neutral on the
issue of immigration (Examples: "shared responsibility for the proper
management of the flow of migration" and "Mexico has no wish to
promote illegal immigration"); to monitor the Arizona election process in
November 2010; to watch the evolution of state legislative initiatives that may
affect Mexico and its nationals; to generate better communications with
organizations that defend the human rights of immigrants in order to present a
united front against measures that harm undocumented Mexicans," but he has
yet to begin his work.
Among the states with most
Mexican residents (born in Mexico and with roots there), Arizona ranks fourth
(after California, Texas and Illinois, according to information from the Chamber of
Deputies). In that state, according to the latest estimates, there are
about 600,000 of our fellow countrymen, something like 9.5 percent of the
state's population. Legal residents or not, under law SB 1070, hunting season
was opened, and worse still - legalized.
But regardless of the
misguided reluctance of the United States to negotiate an immigration treaty
with its southern neighbor (incidentally, something that should have been
included in NAFTA in the first place), and apart from the obsequiousness and
paralysis of “Mexican” governments, there is the chaotic economic and social
situation of our country, which has been converted into a great gusher of cheap
labor. It's no coincidence that over the past three decades, Mexican emigration
to the United States grew a whopping 350 percent (in the case of Mexicans in
Arizona, there has been a 570 percent increase over the same period), so that
now, (according to the Pew Hispanic Center), 12 million of our countrymen live
and work in the U.S. - to say nothing of those who settled there before. To
give you an idea of the scale, this equals the number of permanent workers
registered with the Mexican
Social Security Institute by the end of March 2010, constituting 25 percent
of the economically-active population of Mexico, which is 11.2 percent of the
total population.
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by WORLDMEETS.US
Without doubt, this perfectly
sums up how “well we've done,” how “solid is our ship of state,” how “we're
going in the right direction,” that “we've recovered the jobs we lost” and
that, “Mexico looks good," (as stated by President Calderón-Social Development
Secretary Cordero-Labor Secretary
Lozano) - no matter that the World Bank places our country in first place
internationally as an exporter of labor.
But fear not, because we're
not going stop at speechmaking: “... my government cannot and will not remain
indifferent ... in May. I am going to visit President Obama and the Congress of
the United States. Be assured that during our meetings there will be space for
this most imperative subject - the rights of Mexicans in the U.S. and in
anywhere in the world, and for the urgent need to move toward sensible and
rational, reasonable, humane and balanced schemes,” (guess who said this, and
then draw your conclusions).
