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 Editorials | Issues | March 2007 
First Jeered, Gebara Returns with Eloquence
 Linda Valdez - arizonarepublic.com
He approached the podium wearing a dark suit and a diplomat's demeanor. He might have been wondering if he'd get a chance to say something this time. After all, he flew from Mexico City to Tucson last year only to be shouted down when he tried to deliver a speech at the University of Arizona. His speech was called "Mexico-U.S. Migration: Let's Talk About Solutions."
When it comes to immigration, some folks would rather not talk.
Yet Mauricio Farah Gebara gave no sign of concern about the incident that resulted in a personal note of apology from then-UA President Peter Likins and an invitation to return.
When he came back recently, Farah Gebara, a top official with Mexico's National Human Rights Commission, spoke about things that should be central to the current debate over illegal immigration.
He said migration costs Mexico the human capital it will need as it develops. He criticized Mexico for not protecting the human rights of illegal immigrants who enter his country from Central America. His commission recently issued a report condemning the abuses of these migrants, who cross Mexico on their way to the United States.
Most importantly, he called for rethinking the way migration is viewed by Mexico, Central America and the United States. Instead of seeing it as a law enforcement problem, he said, it should be seen as a human rights issue.
That doesn't mean everyone has a right to enter the United States.
It means that law enforcement solutions have failed because they do not get at the human motivations and market forces driving illegal immigration.
"You cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result," he said.
Mexico's perspective on illegal immigration is rarely heard in this country, yet it is frequently mischaracterized as being arrogant and inflexible.
Farah Gebara's comments showed that Mexico sees this as its problem, too. Mexico wants to help solve it.
During question-and-answer time, a woman in a cowboy hat began by saying she was the daughter of immigrants and that immigrants were people who entered the country legally.
She went on with the usual rap that tars illegal immigrants mercilessly for a wide variety of sins. She asked bluntly why Mexico doesn't take care of its own people.
Farah Gebara said, as he had earlier in his speech, that Mexico needs to do more to offer opportunity to its people.
He pointed out that the United States has a responsibility, too, because it provides jobs that attract migrants.
"The economy you enjoy is supported by their cheap labor," he said.
The audience applauded.
The woman went on. She said illegal immigration only helps the "big corporations" that make money off cheap migrant labor.
The average American, she said, pays for the education of migrant children, the emergency medical care of migrant families and the incarceration of migrants who get in trouble with the law.
Farah Gebara suggested she go to the big corporations to demand accountability.
We try, she said, but they are powerful. Very powerful.
So you target the powerless, Farah Gebara said, you blame the vulnerable migrants.
His observation captures exactly what is happening.
Ever bigger hammers are being raised to crush migrants.
But the poor, as Jesus said, will always be with us. There will always be more migrants willing to die for the chance to fill low-wage jobs in our rich country. A hammer is not the answer.
In an odd way, the exchange between the Mexican man in the suit and the American woman in the cowboy hat is part of the answer.
They talked. They probably didn't like each other. They certainly didn't agree. But they talked.
In this nation where cheap shots get dignified as free speech, it's worth remembering that diatribes are not the same as dialogue. We need more dialogue.
Migration is about human beings, and human beings can't solve their problems unless they talk to each other with respect and try to remember their shared humanity.
Reach the writer at linda .valdez@arizonarepublic.com. |
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