June 07, 2005

"U.S. officials promote programs for Mexican immigrants"

Can you spot the contradiction in this introductory paragraph from Knight Ridder's "U.S. officials promote programs for Mexican immigrants":

U.S. government officials convened Monday in San Francisco to promote programs, services and benefits available to Mexican immigrants in this country, including those who are undocumented, under a binational effort aimed at protecting workers' rights and improving the health of families...

Those of you who are old fuddy-duddies will probably have a problem with the U.S. government encouraging illegal immigration. But, wait, it gets worse. They're doing so with our friends from Mexico:

The officials from the Department of Labor and Department of Agriculture spoke to dozens of representatives of Mexican consulates from throughout the Western United States in a daylong training seminar aimed at jointly promoting immigrant rights...

While the government representatives seemed careful to not publicly emphasize how illegal immigrants can benefit under federal laws, the consuls and a top official from Mexico's Foreign Ministry in interviews spoke openly about how the undocumented often don't complain about working conditions for fear their employer will have them deported...

While I don't want to see workers exploited, I believe a far better way to avoid that would be for the federal government to fight against illegal immigration. That would also be consistent with our laws. And, no matter what we do, we should keep the Mexican government and their consulates at arm's length.

Maybe it's time for the American public to consider their options. If you don't want to go that far, contact your representatives and make clear to them that you oppose these sort of activities.

Posted to Immigration2005a at June 7, 2005 02:52 PM

Comments

Is any of this money from the Millennium Challenge Acct? Bush set up qualifications for MCA that Mexico does not meet:

"The U.S. will channel these funds only to developing countries that demonstrate, not promise, a strong commitment to:
'ruling justly (e.g., upholding the rule of law, rooting out corruption, protecting human rights and political freedoms)
'investing in their people (e.g., investment in education and health care)
'encouraging economic freedom (e.g., open markets, sound fiscal and monetary policies, appropriate regulatory environments, and strong support for private enterprise)."

link to House hearing:
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa90364.000/hfa90364_0.HTM

Posted by: gofigure at June 8, 2005 07:17 AM