In his speech on May 19, Mexican president Felipe Calderon told us how to deal with illegal immigrants from his country. His message was, essentially, “Leave them alone.” My message to him is slightly more pointed.
by Michael Naragon
May 26, 2010
Dear Mr. Calderon,
Good day, sir. I hope this letter finds you well. Now, if you please, shut up.
On May 19, while speaking alongside our current president, you said that the United States and Mexico needed to avoid the shadows of ”such laws as the Arizona law, which is forcing our people to face discrimination.”
Your people, sir, are facing discrimination not, as you imply, because of their racial composition or nationality, but because they are flaunting the laws of the United States by their presence here. The Arizona law, in fact, gives state officials the right to enforce laws already on the federal books. If you’re so concerned about legislation that discriminates against illegals, perhaps you should have turned to the man you were standing next to and directed your commentary to him.
“We are and will continue to be respectful of the internal policies of the United States and its legitimate right to establish, in accordance to its Constitution, whatever laws it approves,” you assured us, “But we will retain our firm rejection to criminalized migration so that people that work and provide things to this nation would be treated as criminals.” People who work and provide things to this nation? Sir, drug dealers “provide things.” Pimps “provide things.”
And let’s dispense with this myth that your people, citizens of Mexico, are here doing jobs that no one else will do. They only do them cheaper, taking money under the table and tax-free. If you haven’t noticed, unemployment is growing here in the United States. There are plenty of citizens of this country who would be willing to work in hotels, on construction sites, and in the other venues where your people are “providing things.”
Mexican immigration policy is one of the toughest in North America. People in your country illegally, who likely seek to “provide things” for Mexico, are deported and thrown in prison. Your government would seek to harass them and take away their freedom to provide.
And concerning “criminalization”… perhaps you haven’t had enough experience with international politics to understand this, but entering a country without documentation and without permission or approval of that country is illegal. Criminal. Not good. This would, inherently, make your undocumented residents of the United States criminal. The Arizona law did not make them criminals. They took this mantle when they walked/swam/drove across the border of our two countries.
So, Mr. Calderon, rather than stand and rail against the laws of this country and attempt to put a legitimate spin on the millions of your citizens who live in our nation illegally, soaking up tax dollars in the form of entitlements and services designed for our citizens, please keep your mouth shut. Instead, perhaps you could return to Mexico City and look to secure the border on your side rather than allow it to remain a veritable sieve of humanity.
Or maybe you could try to make your country one that people would be happy to remain in, so that your people could stay and “provide things” for you.
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Great letter! I still can’ t get over this man standing up and chastising us when he is the one who needs a swift kick in the butt. And our president let him do this!!!
I am in agreement. I feel a compassion for the immigrants, legal or not (and know severel of the illegals personally) but I also see that this is a problem that has been allowed to fester for years and years and now has run rampant. In the past 30 years alone, things have changed drastically as far as Mexican citizens coming over the border is concerned. When I lived in Michigan, we had migrant workers that came up to pick vegetables, cherries, apples, etc. They brought their families. They made their wages going from north to south, returning to Mexico between times, but they had papers that allowed them to come. They paid their bills in cash (including medical/dental – I know because I worked in these fields) and did NOT depend on our welfare system.
If, perchance, they chose to move to the US for better opportunities, they did it through citizenship (and proudly). Now, perhaps I am ignorant. Perhaps this slipping over the border illegally is because it is hard to be legal here now. One illegal told my husband that he went through elementary, middle and high school here and is still illegal. Huh? Am I missing something? How can this happen and indeed if this is happening and apparently it is, the blame lies on the school systems, the laws of this country and as I am in Texan now, the state. How can a child make it through school without being allowed or helped to become a citizen, along with his family. Should there not be laws in place when a child is in school and it is apparent that they are not legal citizens, along with their parents, that it be looked into and they all be helped to become citizens? Why is it so hard (as the guy told my husband) now? Traditionally, people coming to our country vie to become citizens as a matter of pride. Could it be the fault of the US or the nature of the people coming over here? If allowed to send kids to school, get medicaid and other benefits, yadayadayada, why would they become citizens. They instead become an illegal version of our own medicaid sucking lazy (although the Mexicans are far from lazy) folks in our towns and cities that have child after child and are loath to get a job. We have our OWN issues without adding an extra burden (kind of tongue in cheek here). I think we can blame OUR country for allowing this sneaking over the border to happen, for allowing (out of compassion) folks that do so to reap benefits and for allowing a sense of entitlement to happen in the first place. I also feel that Mexico, instead of fixing their corruptness and making the country one to be proud of that doesn’t lose it’s citizens to over the border but retains them in prosperity, should take a good look at why we are all so angry here. My husband, a long time carpenter, cannot find work in Texas. WHY: You guessed it. Low wages and lots of brown skinned workers have taken even the jobs that regular carpenters here used to do (I’m talking the jobs that are not considered something only the Mexicans used to do and the reason so many say they should be allowed to stay). We are looking in other states for work now. NOT in the construction field because you know what? They are everywhere. Illegals have hit every states with few exceptions, in droves. They are like a virus we cannot stop. They bring in their gang wars, their drug shootings and their drain on our tough economy. So I say, let’s make it easier for GOOD Mexican folks to become legal and tough for those that are here for less than good reasons to stay here. Being tough is the only way we can do this and if good folks that came here and never became citizens get hassled in the meantime, I feel sorry but there is a solution: go file for citizenship, no matter what it takes.
Anyway, great letter. Obviously it touched off something in me and I went on my own bandstand. Sorry.