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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2007 
U.S. Policies Offending More
 Jeremy Schwartz - Cox News Service
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| | President Felipe Calderón criticized U.S. immigration policy, saying it has 'gone too far' with recent laws. |
Mexico City - Anger in Mexico is growing in the wake of a number of new state laws in the United States, including those in Georgia, Oklahoma and Arizona, considered by critics to be anti-Mexican - a shift reflected in President Felipe Calderón's recent verbal lashing of U.S. presidential candidates.
In tougher rhetoric toward U.S. immigration policies, Calderón scolded presidential candidates for using migrants as "thematic hostages" and announced a media campaign aimed at influencing American public opinion.
Calderón's comments earlier this month represented a dramatic departure from the more timid statements of past leaders and were welcomed by many in Mexico.
"I think the current American government has gone too far against illegal Mexicans," said Fernando García, a 36-year-old Mexico City office administrator. "I don't like the raids and how they destroy families [and] . . . the hate they are generating against Mexicans."
Such sentiment contrasts with the decidedly cooler reaction much of Mexico gave to the millions of immigrants who took to the streets of Washington, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin and other U.S. cities in the spring and summer of 2006 to demand an overhaul of immigration laws.
At that time, the seeming indifference and lack of supporting protests in Mexico irritated many migrant rights advocates.
But since then, immigration reform efforts on Capitol Hill have stalled, while a series of stiff state laws were enacted and the U.S. government started building a wall along the border.
PAPERWORK RULES
In Georgia, new state laws require increased verification of legal status to register a car and hold some jobs. They also require that local officials alert federal immigration agents to any suspected illegal immigrants booked on felony or DUI charges.
Supporters in the United States say such laws are designed to curb illegal migration.
But many in Mexico see them as discriminatory, while failing to address the larger issue of U.S. immigration policy.
"Bush is the modern-day Hitler, the same as the rest of his party," said Antonio González, a 35-year-old Mexico City accountant. "They don't treat the Russians or English or other white Europeans like that, and so for me they are a bunch of racists."
The Calderón administration last week also blasted the U.S.-backed border wall, calling the idea "medieval."
Mexico, which often reacts with anger to even a hint of U.S. meddling in its internal affairs, has been loath to comment so directly on internal U.S. politics in recent years.
"Every day there is more demand for the Mexican government to take a stronger position," said Manuel Angel Castillo, coordinator of the Migration Seminary at the College of Mexico. "The immigration reform generated a lot of expectation, but as we all know that didn't happen. Instead they approved a series of undesirable actions and all these things are now creating a lot of irritation."
TALK OF ACTION
At a migrant advocates' conference last week in Mexico City, attendees cited some 170 anti-immigrant measures adopted by local and state governments in the United States. Many said the time had come to directly confront what is increasingly seen as a rising tide of xenophobia.
"Just the idea that our children will live in . . . humiliation is something we cannot allow," said Alonso Flores, member of the Institute of Mexicans in the Exterior, an agency of the Mexican government that fosters ties with Mexicans living abroad.
His agency estimates that 1 million Mexicans will be deported in the coming year from the United States as a result of the new laws.
Calderón, in a speech to the conference, said a new media campaign would change the "distorted" perceptions Americans have about Mexican workers and build consciousness of the "many contributions they make for the society in which they work and live."
Experts in Mexico say it's too early to tell whether Calderón's comments signal a change in how the Mexican government deals with American politics.
"In the coming weeks and months, we will see if [Calderón's] declarations form part of a new strategy," said Luis Escala, a researcher at the Tijuana-based College of the Northern Border. |
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