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 News from Around the Americas | April 2007 
Mexico Envoy Backs U.S. Plans but Says Migration Won't Stop
 Alfredo Corchado - The Dallas Morning News
| | Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's Ambassador to the United States, says reform won't diminish number of border-crossers. |
Washington – Mexico's new ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, expressed support for proposed changes in U.S. immigration policy but said in an interview that even if they win the backing of Congress, waves of immigration will continue because Mexico is failing to provide adequate opportunities for its people.
"Comprehensive immigration starts in Mexico, that is, our ability to generate the jobs and the economic growth that are needed to dampen the causes that push Mexican migrants across the border," Mr. Sarukhan said in an interview with The Morning News and the Spanish language newspaper Al Dia. "... Even if there was a wildly positive immigration reform tomorrow, that is not going to do the trick of diminishing the migrant flows of Mexicans to the United States."
President Bush, during a visit to the border Monday in Arizona, renewed his call for an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, citing improving border security and the need for a resolution of the legal status of millions of undocumented immigrants.
Mr. Sarukhan praised the immigration legislation proposed by U.S. Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., which calls for increased border security, penalties against employers of unauthorized workers, and a pathway to legal status for undocumented workers – including a requirement that they first leave the United States and pay a fine. Mr. Sarukhan said the bill "addresses some of the holistic needs to move forward."
"At the end of the day, I think U.S. domestic security is enhanced by knowing who are the 8 million or 12 million undocumented individuals living in this country, not just who they are but where they live," he said, stressing that the debate over immigration is an internal matter for the United States. "As a whole the bill I think reflects a serious effort and a commitment to find a solution, a long-term comprehensive solution."
Mr. Sarukhan said that Mexico is increasing the number of consulates in the United States from 47 to 49 and that they will become more active in explaining Mexico and its agenda to the U.S. public, including "why these two countries are in fact important to each other's well being."
He said that building a wall along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, as Congress has authorized, will only force migrants to more dangerous areas to cross and will drive up the prices charged by smugglers. A fence is "not the most positive signal that two neighbors, or two economic partners, can send to one another," he said.
El Salvador's ambassador, René A. León, said in an interview that comprehensive immigration legislation would benefit not just Latin American countries but also the United States, by strengthening domestic security and securing a workforce to keep the U.S. economy humming.
"Immigration is an issue of labor markets, and the reality is the U.S. needs a lot of helping hands," he said. The Salvadoran Embassy estimates there are up to 2 million Salvadorans in the U.S. Most live in Los Angeles and in the Washington D.C., area, but a growing number are moving to the Houston and Dallas areas, he said.
Dallas, he added, is becoming an important "strategic business hub" for Salvadorans, noting that a number of new businesses in the area owned by Salvadoran immigrants.
Last year Salvadoran immigrants sent about $3 billon in remittances to El Salvador, Mr. León said.
An immigration overhaul, he noted, could also help the region combat transnational crime and gangs that smuggle drugs and Central American immigrants across into Mexico and finally into the United States, mostly through the California and Texas borders. The process is especially arduous for these migrants, as many lose limbs, die, or are shaken down by corrupt Mexican authorities and smugglers.
On that point, Mr. Sarukhan said that Mexico has to do more to improve the treatment of Central Americans in Mexican territory.
"Mexico cannot preach to the North what we don't do to the South," he said, paraphrasing President Felipe Calderón.
Mr. Sarukhan brushed aside recent remarks he made to The Washington Post that the United States had contributed "zilch" to Mexico's efforts to combat drug traffickers.
He preferred to talk about other issues and projects, such as efforts under way to build the first railway crossing between the states of Texas and Nuevo León since the presidency of Porfirio Diaz in the early 1900s.
"Can you imagine how much has changed along the border during that time?" he said. "This is a big, big deal."
A career diplomat who served in Mr. Calderón´s presidential campaign, Mr. Sarukhán holds a master´s degree in U.S. foreign policy from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
Andrew Selee, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, said the new Mexican ambassador reminds him of U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza in his willingness to directly address issues.
"My sense of Sarukhan is that his outspoken nature is similar to that of his counterpart from the U.S. in Mexico City, Tony Garza," Mr. Selee said. "Both are outspoken and make a point of speaking about the range of issues on the U.S.-Mexico agenda, regardless of what others may think."
acorchado@dallasnews.com |
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