Huffington Post: Ten years ago, in 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security introduced its Secure Border Initiative (SBI). Today, the Mexico-U.S. wall is a fact of everyday life for millions of people who live in its shadow.
Disagreements persist about how effective the border fortifications have been, but two outcomes are certain: the SBI intervention has massively disrupted community, commerce, and environment along the border zone; and created a bloated 'border industrial complex,' consisting of surveillance infrastructures and enforcement personnel that intervene in the lives of U.S. citizens even though they are intended to target undocumented migrants, smugglers, and terrorists. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label immigration policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immigration policy. Show all posts
Jul 11, 2014
Mexico is Doing 'Nothing' as Migration Issue Spirals (Excelsior, Mexico)
WorldsMeets (Excelsior): In recent weeks there has been renewed attention paid to a phenomenon that for years has been a scourge for Latin American peoples, and for decades the people of the United States have felt its ramifications: the migration of thousands of people toward North America.
The issue began to be mentioned with greater frequency after the alarming rise in the number of unaccompanied children venturing across the Mexico-U.S. border caught the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama. They are detained, with some placed in migration centers, and others deported to their countries of origin. Read more.
The issue began to be mentioned with greater frequency after the alarming rise in the number of unaccompanied children venturing across the Mexico-U.S. border caught the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama. They are detained, with some placed in migration centers, and others deported to their countries of origin. Read more.
Jun 10, 2014
From Germany to Mexico: How America’s source of immigrants has changed over a century
PEW Research Center
By Jens Manuel Krogstad and Michael Keegan
With more than 40 million immigrants, the United States is the top destination in the world for those moving from one country to another. Mexico, which shares a nearly 2,000-mile border with the U.S., is the source of the largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States.
But today’s volume of immigrants, in some ways, is a return to America’s past. A century ago, the U.S. experienced another large wave of immigrants. Although smaller at 18.2 million, they hailed largely from Europe. Many Americans can trace their roots to that wave of migrants from 1890-1919, when Germany dominated as the country sending the most immigrants to many of the U.S. states, although the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy were also strongly represented.
In 1910, Germany was the top country of birth among U.S. immigrants, accounting for 18% of all immigrants (or 2.5 million) in the United States. Germans made up the biggest immigrant group in 17 states and the District of Columbia, while Mexico accounted for the most immigrants in just three states (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas). Behind Germany, the second-most number of immigrants in the U.S. were from Russia and the countries that would become the USSR (11%, or 1.6 million). Read more.
By Jens Manuel Krogstad and Michael Keegan
With more than 40 million immigrants, the United States is the top destination in the world for those moving from one country to another. Mexico, which shares a nearly 2,000-mile border with the U.S., is the source of the largest wave of immigration in history from a single country to the United States.
But today’s volume of immigrants, in some ways, is a return to America’s past. A century ago, the U.S. experienced another large wave of immigrants. Although smaller at 18.2 million, they hailed largely from Europe. Many Americans can trace their roots to that wave of migrants from 1890-1919, when Germany dominated as the country sending the most immigrants to many of the U.S. states, although the United Kingdom, Canada and Italy were also strongly represented.
In 1910, Germany was the top country of birth among U.S. immigrants, accounting for 18% of all immigrants (or 2.5 million) in the United States. Germans made up the biggest immigrant group in 17 states and the District of Columbia, while Mexico accounted for the most immigrants in just three states (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas). Behind Germany, the second-most number of immigrants in the U.S. were from Russia and the countries that would become the USSR (11%, or 1.6 million). Read more.
Apr 7, 2014
More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records Show
NY Times
By Ginger Thompson and Sarah Cohen
April 6, 2014
With the Obama administration deporting illegal immigrants at a record pace, the president has said the government is going after “criminals, gang bangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after folks who are here just because they’re trying to figure out how to feed their families.”
But a New York Times analysis of internal government records shows that since President Obama took office, two-thirds of the nearly two million deportation cases involve people who had committed minor infractions, including traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all. Twenty percent — or about 394,000 — of the cases involved people convicted of serious crimes, including drug-related offenses, the records show. Read more.
By Ginger Thompson and Sarah Cohen
April 6, 2014
With the Obama administration deporting illegal immigrants at a record pace, the president has said the government is going after “criminals, gang bangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after folks who are here just because they’re trying to figure out how to feed their families.”
But a New York Times analysis of internal government records shows that since President Obama took office, two-thirds of the nearly two million deportation cases involve people who had committed minor infractions, including traffic violations, or had no criminal record at all. Twenty percent — or about 394,000 — of the cases involved people convicted of serious crimes, including drug-related offenses, the records show. Read more.
Aug 4, 2013
U.S. flying deportees deep into Mexico, over dangerous border
Washington Post
By Nick Miroff
July 31, 2013
Security conditions have grown so dire in Mexican border towns that U.S. immigration authorities have begun flying some deportees to Mexico City, rather than releasing them into areas where they could be targeted by kidnappers and smuggling gangs.
The twice-weekly flights operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry only a fraction of the nearly 300,000 Mexican nationals returned by the Obama administration each year. But flying deportees deep into Mexico could save lives by discouraging them from attempting another desperate illegal crossing, ICE officials say.
“We’re trying to reduce attempted reentry into the United States and minimize the potential for exploitation of people who are removed to Mexico and their loss of life,” said Tim Robbins, an ICE official who coordinates the flight program, known as the Interior Repatriation Initiative. Read more.
By Nick Miroff
July 31, 2013
Security conditions have grown so dire in Mexican border towns that U.S. immigration authorities have begun flying some deportees to Mexico City, rather than releasing them into areas where they could be targeted by kidnappers and smuggling gangs.
The twice-weekly flights operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carry only a fraction of the nearly 300,000 Mexican nationals returned by the Obama administration each year. But flying deportees deep into Mexico could save lives by discouraging them from attempting another desperate illegal crossing, ICE officials say.
“We’re trying to reduce attempted reentry into the United States and minimize the potential for exploitation of people who are removed to Mexico and their loss of life,” said Tim Robbins, an ICE official who coordinates the flight program, known as the Interior Repatriation Initiative. Read more.
Anarchy along Mexico's southern border crossings
LA Times
By Richard Fausset
August 3, 2013
CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico — The Mexican government is pledging to bring order to its wild southern border. The stakes couldn't be higher, and the job couldn't be more difficult.
The proof lies in this dusty border town of 14,000 people. Here, unmonitored goods and travelers float across the wide Suchiate River — the boundary between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas — on a flotilla of inner-tube rafts. They cross all day long, in plain sight of Mexican authorities stationed a few yards upriver at an official border crossing.
Some of the Central Americans are visiting just for the day. Others are hoping to find work on Mexican coffee plantations or banana farms. But many will continue north toward the United States. Read more.
By Richard Fausset
August 3, 2013
CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico — The Mexican government is pledging to bring order to its wild southern border. The stakes couldn't be higher, and the job couldn't be more difficult.
The proof lies in this dusty border town of 14,000 people. Here, unmonitored goods and travelers float across the wide Suchiate River — the boundary between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas — on a flotilla of inner-tube rafts. They cross all day long, in plain sight of Mexican authorities stationed a few yards upriver at an official border crossing.
Some of the Central Americans are visiting just for the day. Others are hoping to find work on Mexican coffee plantations or banana farms. But many will continue north toward the United States. Read more.
Jul 20, 2013
Immigration Reform Should Address Why People Leave
Huffington Post
By Andrew Wainer
July 18, 2013
In June, the Senate approved the most far-reaching reforms to U.S. immigration policy in 50 years. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act passed on a vote of 68-32. It now faces a more daunting challenge in the House of Representatives. The 1,000+ page bill includes an earned legalization process for 11 million unauthorized immigrants, increased enforcement both at the border and at home, and a revamped guest worker program for both high- and low-skilled jobs.
But even as policymakers attempt to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system, the proposed legislative solutions overlook one of the system's most important moving parts -- the economic hardship in immigrants' home countries that drives them to seek work in the United States. Thus, the U.S. development community can play a new and important role in helping to integrate economic development and poverty reduction into U.S. immigration policy. Read more.
By Andrew Wainer
July 18, 2013
In June, the Senate approved the most far-reaching reforms to U.S. immigration policy in 50 years. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act passed on a vote of 68-32. It now faces a more daunting challenge in the House of Representatives. The 1,000+ page bill includes an earned legalization process for 11 million unauthorized immigrants, increased enforcement both at the border and at home, and a revamped guest worker program for both high- and low-skilled jobs.
But even as policymakers attempt to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system, the proposed legislative solutions overlook one of the system's most important moving parts -- the economic hardship in immigrants' home countries that drives them to seek work in the United States. Thus, the U.S. development community can play a new and important role in helping to integrate economic development and poverty reduction into U.S. immigration policy. Read more.
Jul 16, 2013
In Mexico, rails are risky crossing for a new wave of Central American migrants
Washington Post
By Nick Miroff
July 15, 2013
Central Americans have been catching freight trains to the U.S. border for years, risking injury or worse for a free ride and a path clear of Mexican government checkpoints. But at a time when illegal immigration to the United States remains near its lowest point in four decades, the number of Central Americans going north has soared, putting new attention on the rail system that takes thousands to the border each year. Read more.
By Nick Miroff
July 15, 2013
Central Americans have been catching freight trains to the U.S. border for years, risking injury or worse for a free ride and a path clear of Mexican government checkpoints. But at a time when illegal immigration to the United States remains near its lowest point in four decades, the number of Central Americans going north has soared, putting new attention on the rail system that takes thousands to the border each year. Read more.
Jun 26, 2013
Mexico objects to border security portion of US immigration bill, says fences not solution
The Washington Post
By Associated Press
June 25, 2013
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government objected on Tuesday to an immigration bill that appears headed for approval in the U.S. Senate, saying the initiative’s heavy focus on border security is not consistent with the relationship between the two countries.
Foreign Relations Secretary Jose Meade said that instead of expanding a border fence, as proposed in the bill, the United States should modernize border bridges to expedite commerce.
“Fences do not unite,” Meade said while reading a statement to reporters during a news conference where he didn’t take questions. Read more.
By Associated Press
June 25, 2013
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government objected on Tuesday to an immigration bill that appears headed for approval in the U.S. Senate, saying the initiative’s heavy focus on border security is not consistent with the relationship between the two countries.
Foreign Relations Secretary Jose Meade said that instead of expanding a border fence, as proposed in the bill, the United States should modernize border bridges to expedite commerce.
“Fences do not unite,” Meade said while reading a statement to reporters during a news conference where he didn’t take questions. Read more.
Jun 11, 2013
Near the Border, a Few Deputies Are Outnumbered by Drugs and Bodies
“It’s hard,” he said. “I stop these guys and they pull out their
wallets. I see the pictures of their kids and I think about my own kids.
I realize I’d probably do the exact same thing if the situation was
reversed.” Deputy Brad Gill, Ajo, AZ
I find that consistently local law enforcement officers, forced by recent laws to treat immigrants as criminals, are far less convinced of their task and far more compassionate than lawmakers in Washington or the state capital. As the "border security" hype heats up in the context of immigration reform, legislators should pay more attention to our own "boots on the ground" and less to the defense lobbies that roam the halls with stuffed pockets, selling the tragically false equation of immigration=national security threat.
We'll be putting out a series on recent reports on immigration in Arizona and Texas on www.cipamericas.org this week. They document the high death rate and massive human rights violations that should shame a nation committed to justice. They also reinforce the deputy's view here that the multibillion-dollar plan of building a total wall is useless and a gigantic waste of tax dollars.
NYT. June 11, 2013 AJO, Ariz. — On a recent morning, Lt. Bill Clements, commander of a remote sheriff’s department substation here, sent his deputies into the sun-blasted Sonoran Desert to recover a body — the fifth in five days. Hours later, back at the station, a deputy unzipped a white body bag, revealing the corpse of a man who had died making the brutal crossing from Mexico, his lips shrunken, either with dehydration or from being partly eaten by wild animals, the deputies said.
Pima County sheriffs moved the body of a person who had apparently died crossing the border.
Out here, life expires suddenly and without dignity. The Ajo district
station recovered 18 bodies last year. As of late May, the station had
recovered eight, and the summer sun was still a few weeks away.
Read More...
Apr 30, 2013
The Boston Marathon Bombers: 'Caught Between Two Worlds' (La Jornada, Mexico)
"Despite having started a family, everything points to Tamerlan Tsarnaev never forgetting his roots and being stuck between two worlds that could not be reconciled, particularly as Islamism is a terrible threat and one of the principle enemies of the United States. This perception is a source of great tension inside the country, where the number of Muslims is growing, while at the same time, many see in them an internal enemy that must be fought. ... The terrorist attack in Boston will decide the fate of two of President Obama’s most important legislative initiatives - even if the bombing was not intended to derail amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants or curb the use of guns by individuals."
Mexico – La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)
By Soledad Loaeza
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
April 27, 2013
No firm evidence has yet been found on the motives which led Tamerlan Tsarnaev to stage an attack on the Boston Marathon. The attack cost the lives of three people, and maimed or injured over 200 more. Currently, not a single lead connects Tsarnaev - even less so his younger brother Dzokhar - to radical nationalist or Islamist organizations that may have organized such an attack.
There is many interpretations, but little by little, a conclusion has been reached that the bombing was an individual action, although its social consequences will no doubt be far-reaching. It is vitally important to identify the reasons for the Tsarnayevs’ action. As long as there is no clarity on this, speculation will flourish, much of it wild. But even speculation may weigh heavily on two very delicate topics that are now being debated in the United States: gun control and migration. Read more.
Mexico – La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)
By Soledad Loaeza
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
April 27, 2013
No firm evidence has yet been found on the motives which led Tamerlan Tsarnaev to stage an attack on the Boston Marathon. The attack cost the lives of three people, and maimed or injured over 200 more. Currently, not a single lead connects Tsarnaev - even less so his younger brother Dzokhar - to radical nationalist or Islamist organizations that may have organized such an attack.
There is many interpretations, but little by little, a conclusion has been reached that the bombing was an individual action, although its social consequences will no doubt be far-reaching. It is vitally important to identify the reasons for the Tsarnayevs’ action. As long as there is no clarity on this, speculation will flourish, much of it wild. But even speculation may weigh heavily on two very delicate topics that are now being debated in the United States: gun control and migration. Read more.
Apr 29, 2013
Immigration Reform Deal Neglects Thousands
The Huffington Post
Elliot Spagat
April 28, 2013
SAN DIEGO -- Carlos Gonzalez has lived nearly all his 29 years in a country he considers home but now finds himself on the wrong side of the border – and the wrong side of a proposed overhaul of the U.S. immigration system that would grant legal status to millions of people.
Gonzalez was deported to Tijuana, Mexico, from Santa Barbara in December, one of nearly 2 million removals from the United States since Barack Obama was first elected president.
"I have nobody here," said Gonzalez, who serves breakfasts in a Tijuana migrant shelter while nursing a foot that fractured in 10 places when he jumped the border fence in a failed attempt to rejoin his mother, two brothers and extended family in California. "The United States is all I know."
While a Senate bill introduced earlier this month would bring many of the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally out of the shadows, not everyone would benefit. They include anyone who arrived after Dec. 31, 2011, those with gay partners legally in the U.S., siblings of U.S. citizens and many deportees such as Gonzalez. Read more.
Elliot Spagat
April 28, 2013
SAN DIEGO -- Carlos Gonzalez has lived nearly all his 29 years in a country he considers home but now finds himself on the wrong side of the border – and the wrong side of a proposed overhaul of the U.S. immigration system that would grant legal status to millions of people.
Gonzalez was deported to Tijuana, Mexico, from Santa Barbara in December, one of nearly 2 million removals from the United States since Barack Obama was first elected president.
"I have nobody here," said Gonzalez, who serves breakfasts in a Tijuana migrant shelter while nursing a foot that fractured in 10 places when he jumped the border fence in a failed attempt to rejoin his mother, two brothers and extended family in California. "The United States is all I know."
While a Senate bill introduced earlier this month would bring many of the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally out of the shadows, not everyone would benefit. They include anyone who arrived after Dec. 31, 2011, those with gay partners legally in the U.S., siblings of U.S. citizens and many deportees such as Gonzalez. Read more.
Apr 4, 2013
Illegal Immigration: Cruelty, Xenophobia and U.S. Business (La Jornada, Mexico)
"The criminalization of undocumented migration in the United States and the violations of human rights that accompany it, is a strategy that results in enormous political, economic and corporate profit, the very existence of which contradicts the founding principles of that country."
Editorial
La Jornada
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
WorldsMeet.us
April 4, 2013
According to official reports divulged by The New York Times, some 300 undocumented migrants a day are subject to solitary confinement in U.S. prisons on orders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE for short). This happens in spite of the fact that such people have not been jailed for criminal offences, but for civil ones, which under the laws of our neighboring country, don't even merit punishment. Their detentions are a means of ensuring that they appear at administrative hearings. Out of this figure, half, or some 150, are kept in solitary confinement for 75 days or more, which according to psychiatric experts cited by the newspaper, multiplies the risk of severe mental damage for the detainees.
Beyond the intrinsic cruelty of laws currently in force in our neighboring country under which migrants are persecuted - laws that criminalize foreigners for coming to the U.S. in search of work or a better life than what their countries of origin offer - inhumane practices like this one have various contextual elements that must be examined. Read more.
Editorial
La Jornada
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
WorldsMeet.us
April 4, 2013
According to official reports divulged by The New York Times, some 300 undocumented migrants a day are subject to solitary confinement in U.S. prisons on orders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE for short). This happens in spite of the fact that such people have not been jailed for criminal offences, but for civil ones, which under the laws of our neighboring country, don't even merit punishment. Their detentions are a means of ensuring that they appear at administrative hearings. Out of this figure, half, or some 150, are kept in solitary confinement for 75 days or more, which according to psychiatric experts cited by the newspaper, multiplies the risk of severe mental damage for the detainees.
Beyond the intrinsic cruelty of laws currently in force in our neighboring country under which migrants are persecuted - laws that criminalize foreigners for coming to the U.S. in search of work or a better life than what their countries of origin offer - inhumane practices like this one have various contextual elements that must be examined. Read more.
Feb 21, 2013
Immigration Reform and Workers’ Rights
The NY Times
February 20, 2013
Members of Congress and President Obama have been working in earnest to deliver on their promise to overhaul immigration this year. Mr. Obama would clearly prefer a bipartisan bill, and last week the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on possible changes in immigration law. News reports last weekend suggested that the White House would fashion its own bill should negotiations between Republican and Democratic supporters of reform collapse.
Yet, in all the talk of providing a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers while tightening border security, one important issue has, so far, received only passing mention: stronger protections for immigrant workers against exploitation and abuse. Such protections, essential to any reform plan, would help rid the system of bottom-feeding employers who hire and underpay and otherwise exploit cheap immigrant labor, dragging down wages and workplace standards for everyone. Read more.
February 20, 2013
Members of Congress and President Obama have been working in earnest to deliver on their promise to overhaul immigration this year. Mr. Obama would clearly prefer a bipartisan bill, and last week the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on possible changes in immigration law. News reports last weekend suggested that the White House would fashion its own bill should negotiations between Republican and Democratic supporters of reform collapse.
Yet, in all the talk of providing a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers while tightening border security, one important issue has, so far, received only passing mention: stronger protections for immigrant workers against exploitation and abuse. Such protections, essential to any reform plan, would help rid the system of bottom-feeding employers who hire and underpay and otherwise exploit cheap immigrant labor, dragging down wages and workplace standards for everyone. Read more.
Feb 17, 2013
U.S. Immigration Reforms Demand Mexican 'Firmness' (La Jornada, Mexico)
"For Mexico, Obama's second term represents an opportunity to restore the imperative of immigration reform to the place it should never have lost. ... Of course, this depends not only on the correlation of political forces North of the Rio Bravo, but on the capacity of our national authorities to handle bi-national relations with an attitude of respect, and at the same time with sovereign firmness, leaving behind the shameful submission toward Washington that characterized the previous administration."
La Jornada, February 16, 2013
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka for World Meets
In an anachronistic private ceremony, president of the United States Barack Obama has begun the second term he won in the November election, to remain at the head of the country for the next four years. In contrast to January 20, 2009, when the first African-American was installed in the White House, on this occasion there is no exuberant optimism in the neighboring country, and the sensation of participation in a historic moment has been left behind.
The electoral triumph of the former Senator for Illinois over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, is not a result of his society's bet on the future, as happened in 2008, but a victory of common sense. While the defeated presidential candidate was unable to express sensible and viable solutions to the urgent problems facing the most powerful country in the world, his Democratic opponent proved in his first term to be an efficient manager, even if his leadership brought better results for the corporate and geopolitical interests of the superpower than for the unresolved needs of the U.S. population.
La Jornada, February 16, 2013
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka for World Meets
In an anachronistic private ceremony, president of the United States Barack Obama has begun the second term he won in the November election, to remain at the head of the country for the next four years. In contrast to January 20, 2009, when the first African-American was installed in the White House, on this occasion there is no exuberant optimism in the neighboring country, and the sensation of participation in a historic moment has been left behind.
The electoral triumph of the former Senator for Illinois over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, is not a result of his society's bet on the future, as happened in 2008, but a victory of common sense. While the defeated presidential candidate was unable to express sensible and viable solutions to the urgent problems facing the most powerful country in the world, his Democratic opponent proved in his first term to be an efficient manager, even if his leadership brought better results for the corporate and geopolitical interests of the superpower than for the unresolved needs of the U.S. population.
Jan 30, 2013
Mexico stays on the sidelines in immigration reform debate
Los Angeles Times
By Richard Fausset,
January 29, 2013
MEXICO CITY — Here is what you probably won't see in the coming weeks as the U.S. Congress debates a sweeping immigration overhaul: Mexico becoming involved.
Though the United States' southern neighbor is the country with the most at stake as Washington considers changing its policy toward illegal immigrants, Mexican diplomats and government officials are expected to keep a low profile to avoid the appearance of meddling in U.S. affairs and to minimize any potential backlash among conservatives in the States.
Mexican President Enrique "Peña Nieto, and the foreign minister and our new ambassador have all more or less said the same thing about Mexico's role in this, and the message is, 'We're interested, and we'll help if you think we can, but we're not going to take an active role,'" said Andres Rozental, a Mexico City consultant and former deputy foreign minister. Read more.
By Richard Fausset,
January 29, 2013
MEXICO CITY — Here is what you probably won't see in the coming weeks as the U.S. Congress debates a sweeping immigration overhaul: Mexico becoming involved.
Though the United States' southern neighbor is the country with the most at stake as Washington considers changing its policy toward illegal immigrants, Mexican diplomats and government officials are expected to keep a low profile to avoid the appearance of meddling in U.S. affairs and to minimize any potential backlash among conservatives in the States.
Mexican President Enrique "Peña Nieto, and the foreign minister and our new ambassador have all more or less said the same thing about Mexico's role in this, and the message is, 'We're interested, and we'll help if you think we can, but we're not going to take an active role,'" said Andres Rozental, a Mexico City consultant and former deputy foreign minister. Read more.
Jan 25, 2013
Canada-Mexico Guest Worker Program Touted as Model for U.S. To Replicate
Fox News Latino
January 25, 2013
As the country's leaders gear up once again to overhaul the immigration system, a heated debate is expected on the creation of a guest worker program allowing future temporary immigrants to come legally.
Politicians will take up various versions. Some say all they need to do is look north for an ideal model.
Canada has had a guest worker program with Mexico since 1974. Though it’s not without critics, it’s generally hailed as well organized and worthy of being replicated.
The process starts with Mexico screening potential workers on their education, health and skills. To ensure that they don’t overstay their employment visa, the Canadian government takes out part of the workers’ pay and puts it into a special fund — workers get the money when they return to Mexico.
Canada also requires that approximately 16,000 yearly recruits be married — but only they, not their spouses and children, can travel to Canada.
On some level, say those in industries that use foreign labor, Canada’s program should not be difficult to duplicate in the United States. But an important hurdle to its smooth implementation, they say, is the bitterly divisive nature of the ever-thorny immigration debate — it has become so politicized that there’s little to no room for compromise. Read more.
Jan 11, 2013
Mexican Diplomatic Continuity with NAFTA Partners
FSN News: Special Report
January 10, 2013
With little opposition, the Mexican Senate ratified this week the nomination of Eduardo Medina Mora as Mexico’s new ambassador to the United States. In a presentation to the Senate’s foreign affairs commission broadcast on the Congress Channel, Medina sketched out his views on the parameters, problems and promises of the Mexico-U.S. relationship. A longtime mover and shaker on Mexico´s political scene, Medina touched on immigration, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), migrant remittances, arms trafficking and drug legalization. Notably, he did not speak about outstanding environmental issues between Mexico and the U.S. per se.
“Few problems are as complex in the relations with the U.S. as this one,” Medina said of the immigration question.
According to the lawyer by profession, Mexican diplomats will have to keep careful tabs not only the progress of immigration reform in Washington, but ongoing initiatives at the state level as well. He said cross-border collaborations were needed to improve the repatriation process of Mexican nationals, especially women and children. In a long-range analysis of migration trends, Medina predicted relatively less of his countrymen (and women) will relocate to the U.S. in the future due to a drop in fertility rates among Mexican women and the looming end of Mexico´s demographic bonus of a young, plentiful labor force. In Medina´s estimation, however, the U.S. will still need to continue “importing people to keep growing.”
January 10, 2013
With little opposition, the Mexican Senate ratified this week the nomination of Eduardo Medina Mora as Mexico’s new ambassador to the United States. In a presentation to the Senate’s foreign affairs commission broadcast on the Congress Channel, Medina sketched out his views on the parameters, problems and promises of the Mexico-U.S. relationship. A longtime mover and shaker on Mexico´s political scene, Medina touched on immigration, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), migrant remittances, arms trafficking and drug legalization. Notably, he did not speak about outstanding environmental issues between Mexico and the U.S. per se.
“Few problems are as complex in the relations with the U.S. as this one,” Medina said of the immigration question.
According to the lawyer by profession, Mexican diplomats will have to keep careful tabs not only the progress of immigration reform in Washington, but ongoing initiatives at the state level as well. He said cross-border collaborations were needed to improve the repatriation process of Mexican nationals, especially women and children. In a long-range analysis of migration trends, Medina predicted relatively less of his countrymen (and women) will relocate to the U.S. in the future due to a drop in fertility rates among Mexican women and the looming end of Mexico´s demographic bonus of a young, plentiful labor force. In Medina´s estimation, however, the U.S. will still need to continue “importing people to keep growing.”
Nov 20, 2012
Navarrette: Mexico's own immigration debate
By Ruben Navarrette Posted November 17
Ventura Country Star
MEXICO CITY — If you think the debate over immigration from Mexico into the United States is complicated, just take a trip south of the border and look at it from that side.
Complicated isn't the half of it. The immigration debate is also dishonest and hypocritical and filled with people who would rather pursue their own interests than solve the problem. And it all revolves around a broken system that stays broken because important and powerful interests want it that way.
This is true in both countries. Mexico is just as reluctant as the United States to confront the larger issue of migration — both of its own people north to the United States and along its own southern border, where Central and South Americans want to get into a country that many natives are desperate to flee.
Nor does the Mexican elite want to swallow its pride and admit that the real engine behind the Mexican economy isn't people like them but Mexicans who don't even live in Mexico anymore — immigrant workers in the United States.
In Mexico City, politicians, journalists and intellectuals are eager to avoid the issue altogether. They point out that migration to the United States from Mexico has slowed to a trickle. With a U.S. economy that is sluggish and a Mexican one that is bouncing back, many would-be migrants find that going north isn't worth the trouble. Read more.
Ventura Country Star
MEXICO CITY — If you think the debate over immigration from Mexico into the United States is complicated, just take a trip south of the border and look at it from that side.
Complicated isn't the half of it. The immigration debate is also dishonest and hypocritical and filled with people who would rather pursue their own interests than solve the problem. And it all revolves around a broken system that stays broken because important and powerful interests want it that way.
This is true in both countries. Mexico is just as reluctant as the United States to confront the larger issue of migration — both of its own people north to the United States and along its own southern border, where Central and South Americans want to get into a country that many natives are desperate to flee.
Nor does the Mexican elite want to swallow its pride and admit that the real engine behind the Mexican economy isn't people like them but Mexicans who don't even live in Mexico anymore — immigrant workers in the United States.
In Mexico City, politicians, journalists and intellectuals are eager to avoid the issue altogether. They point out that migration to the United States from Mexico has slowed to a trickle. With a U.S. economy that is sluggish and a Mexican one that is bouncing back, many would-be migrants find that going north isn't worth the trouble. Read more.
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