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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
Calderon Backs Immigrants
 Howard Fischer - Capitol Media Services
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| | From left to right, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours, Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, pose for photographers during the opening ceremony of US-Mexico Governors conference in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. (AP/Guillermo Arias) |
Puerto Penasco, Mexico — The president of Mexico vigorously defended the right of his countrymen to migrate to the United States and to be treated with dignity, no matter whether they arrive legally or not.
In a speech Thursday, Felipe Calderon told the governors of both U.S. and Mexican border states that immigration is a “natural phenomenon (that is) socially and economically unavoidable.”
“I would also say it is advantageous for the United States’ economy,” Calderon said at the opening ceremonies of the annual Border Governors Conference. He said the two countries have “complementary economies.”
“The U.S. economy is capital intensive,” the president said, while the economy of Mexico is labor intensive.
To prove that point, he said it will be only a few years until there are 70 million retired U.S. citizens. At the same time, Calderon continued, most Mexicans are younger than 30. He also rejected arguments that Mexican nationals are taking jobs from U.S. citizens.
“Mexican workers in the United States are a complement to workers, not a substitute,” the president said. And aside from providing labor, “they pay taxes.”
And even if Mexicans emigrating to the United States were not good for the U.S. economy, Calderon said that is not an excuse for abuse. “Mexican workers deserve dignified treatment,” he said.
Calderon also told those in attendance, including business leaders and government officials, that he has not given up trying to find economic opportunities to allow people in his country to work there. In fact, he said Mexico needs to do that to keep some of its best people at home.
“The most strongest and daring people are those who migrate,” he said. “They are willing to face death for the survival of their families.”
But he said that even more economic development in his country will not stop people from going to the United States to look for work. What he wants, Calderon said, is a situation where “immigration will be an option, not the only option.”
Gov. Janet Napolitano said she agreed with much of what Calderon had to say, including the economic interdependence of the two countries. But she made it clear that the need for foreign workers has to, from her perspective, come only through legal means.
“One of the problems that we have, quite frankly, is we need to lift the visa caps in the United States so that more legal immigration can occur,” she said.
“There is always going to be legal migration between our countries and we need to recognize that,” the governor continued. “But it does neither of our countries any good to have massive illegal immigration going back and forth.”
Napolitano repeated her call on the federal government to do more to secure the border, including keeping National Guard troops in Southern Arizona until the Border Patrol’s strength is increased and completing a “virtual fence” of sensors and cameras to spot people crossing illegally.
But Calderon suggested that the money to do all that could be better spent elsewhere. “A huge fence is not what will provide prosperity,” he said.
What is needed, he said, is investment. “A mile of highway will do more to prevent immigration than a mile of fence in Sonora,” Calderon said.
Napolitano acknowledged the balance between protecting the border and promoting commerce between Arizona and its southern neighbor.
“We’re going to have to work to enforce our laws, enforce our sovereignty, enforce our immigration rules and regulations, but do so in a way that recognizes there’s legitimate travel that needs to go back and forth as well,” she said.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed with Napolitano about the need for Mexicans to support the U.S. economy.
“We love Mexicans coming to California, to America, the legal way,” he said. Schwarzenegger said that means Congress both securing the border and approving immigration reform.
“There’s so many people here (in Mexico) that look for work and there’s so many people that we need in America,” he continued. “So it’s a great combination of supply and demand.” |
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