September 16, 2008 Memo From Mexico, By Allan WallWhy You Should Be Careful On The Internet—And Donate To VDARE.Com!
Isn’t the
internet great? I love it because it puts the world
at my fingertips.
And it’s a great
tool for the
patriotic immigration reform movement. It helps us
make an end run around the MainStream Media [MSM] and
the
political Establishment. Just look how effective
it’s been in
defeating amnesty during the past few years.
At the same time,
you have to be careful. There is a lot of fraudulent and
misleading information floating around the Internet. And
so much of it is of unknown provenance. Many documents
are of unknown authorship and provide no supporting
documentation to confirm the information presented.
For several years
now, a document has been circulating on the internet
purporting to explain Mexican immigration law,
presenting Mexican immigration laws and proposing them
for the U.S. I keep seeing it pop up again and again.
(Read it
here).
Rush Limbaugh, who
generally shows little interest in the topic of
immigration or the National Question, got hold of these "proposals"
and took credit for them. Rush quoted them on a
broadcast, calling them the
Limbaugh Laws, although he didn’t even know where
they’d come from.
Now the point of
this Internet document is that the Mexican government is
hypocritical about immigration, and has stricter
laws than we do. That’s certainly true. And, as I’ve
pointed out before, we
could stand to emulate some of Mexico’s approach to
immigration.
The problem with
the proposals document is that it doesn’t accurately
summarize Mexican immigration. It mixes the true, the
false, the misleading and the incomprehensible.
It doesn’t really
help the cause to use such information, especially when
there is more reliable data available. We already have
the deck stacked against us by the
Mainstream Media and the political elite. Why make
it worse by quoting
dubious documents?
In the interests
of setting the record straight, I hereby critique this
document point by point.
“THE FOLLOWING IMMIGRATION LAWS ARE PROPOSED...
“1. There will be no special
bilingual programs in the schools...”
My comment:
We need to be careful about absolute statements, and
unclear statements. What kind of bilingual programs are
being discussed here?
It’s not correct
to say that Mexico doesn’t have bilingual programs. Many
private schools have very strong Spanish/English
bilingual programs—I’ve
taught in them. And in some regions of Mexico,
public schools offer bilingual education to
Indian students, who study both Spanish and their
indigenous language.
What Mexico
doesn’t do, though, is to provide “bilingual”
i.e. foreign-language maintenance education to
immigrants, as we do in the United States.
Immigrant children
just have to learn Spanish.
One of my
sons, for example, had a kindergarten classmate from
China.
When the school year started, he didn’t speak Spanish.
But he didn’t have any instruction in Chinese. Yet the
boy quickly picked up Spanish, and English (my son
helped him with that language!). It’s amazing what the
kids can do.
“2. All
ballots will be in this nation's language…”
My comment: Yes,
Mexico has ballots only in Spanish, that’s true.
“3. All government business will be conducted in our
language…
My comment: Fair
enough. Practically all government business in Mexico is
conducted in Spanish, with some exceptions. Foreigners
charged with a crime in Mexico are supposed to be
provided with a translator. However, I have never had
the opportunity to see if that law is practiced—nor do I
plan to!
“4. Non-residents will NOT have the right to vote no
matter how long they are here…”
My comment: This
one just doesn’t even make sense. Why would
non-residents have the right to vote anyway? They don’t
have that right in the United States.
In Mexico,
non-citizens are not allowed to vote. But if a
non-citizen becomes a citizen, then he does have the
right to vote.
It is true,
however, that Mexico is better at keeping
non-citizens from voting. And it has no plans to put
illegal immigrants on any
“Path to
citizenship”. In Mexico, illegal immigrants are
deported—if they’re lucky.
“5. Non-citizens will NEVER be able to hold political
office…”
My comment: This
one doesn’t make sense either. Non-citizens by their
very status should not hold political office. That’s
obvious.
But it is true
that in the United States, after an immigrant becomes a
citizen, he can hold any office except the presidency
(and some people even want to change that). In Mexico
however, naturalized citizens are limited from many more
positions. A naturalized Mexican
citizen can never
serve
in the military during peacetime,
can never be a
policeman,
and can never be a
pilot,
captain or crew member on any vessel or aircraft bearing
a Mexican insignia. And a naturalized Mexican can never
be in charge of a
port
or
airport.
A naturalized Mexican can never be president
(Constitution Article 82), just as in the U.S. But he
can also never be in the
Mexican Congress (unlike ours) (Articles 55 and 58),
can never be on the Supreme Court (article 95), and
never be a governor of a Mexican state (Article 116) nor
serve in the legislature or as mayor of Mexico City
(Article 122).
The truth of the
matter is, no matter how well-assimilated a naturalized
Mexican is, he will always be a sort of
second-class citizen.
“6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers.
No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other
government assistance programs. Any burden will be
deported…”
My comment: It’s
not exactly accurate to say that no foreigners will ever
receive welfare in Mexico. Refugees, for example, are
entitled to receive some welfare benefits. (And,
technically, immigrants to the U.S. aren’t supposed to
be 'public
charge' either. But the law has been subverted.)
But the main way
Mexico prevents foreigners/immigrants from taking too
much welfare is to
carefully select the type of immigrant it allows in the
country. (Mexico receives a lot fewer immigrants a year
than the U.S. and has a negative net migration
rate.) Basically, to be a
legal resident here, you must either be employed, or
have an independent income from abroad.
In other words,
for the most part, Mexico doesn’t take in paupers—so it
doesn’t have to worry about foreigners taking advantage
of its already meager welfare benefits. That’s very
smart, isn’t it?
“7. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must
be an amount at least equal to 40,000 times the daily
minimum wage...”
My comment:
misstated, but there is a point here. Mexico used to
be very restrictive to foreign investors, but in recent
years it has greatly expanded opportunities for foreign
investors—after all, they want the money!
The "40,000 times the
minimum wage” rule applies to an
"Investor
Immigrant", and the amount
"may consist of
shares, social participation or certificates of
participation, fixed assets or rights as beneficiary
through economic activities". But there are various
other ways in which a foreigner might invest money in
Mexico, so anyone interested in that ought to
investigate Mexican law to see which is the most
convenient for him. (Doing
Business in Mexico
Still, there are
still sectors of the economy off limits to foreign
investment, such as petroleum. The U.S. remains much
more open than Mexico.
“8. If foreigners come here and buy land... options
will be restricted. Certain parcels including waterfront
property are reserved for citizens naturally born into
this country….”
My comment: It’s
true that foreigners can’t buy land on the border or on
the beach, unlike in the U.S. But, as I’ve explained
elsewhere, lawyers figured out a loophole, a way they
can own it with a sort of trust. However, it’s not
perfect—oowning
land in Mexico can be tricky.
“9. Foreigners may have no protests; no demonstrations,
no waving of a foreign flag, no political organizing, no
bad-mouthing our president or his policies. These will
lead to deportation...”
My comment:
Basically true. A foreigner can probably bad-mouth the
president and do some of these other things as long as
he’s not too obvious about it. What’s true is that
according to Mexican law, any participation in politics
will subject the foreigner to deportation. And it
happens from time to time.
“10. If you do come to this country illegally, you will
be actively hunted &, when caught, sent to jail until
your deportation can be arranged. All assets will be
taken from you…”
My comment: Not
necessarily. The Mexican government isn’t actively
hunting down illegal aliens all over the country. They
have a more efficient way to do it.
In the first
place, immigration authorities aren’t the only ones who
enforce immigration law. Local police, state police, and
soldiers
all enforce immigration.
But they don’t
have to walk all over the country turning over every
stone looking for an illegal. What Mexicans do is set up
checkpoints at strategic chokepoints. They check
trains and
buses and stations a lot, that sort of thing. In
other words, they don’t have to scour the country for
illegals when they just man the strategic areas where
illegal aliens would be found.
And after these illegals are apprehended, they are detained (in either a
regular jail or special detention center for illegal
aliens) until they are unceremoniously booted from
Mexico. Not to mention the widespread reports of
extra-curricular abuses suffered at the hands of some
Mexican security personnel including robbery and
rape.
The
problem here is that these “proposals” contain quite a
lot of truth, but are mixed with some incorrect and
misleading characterizations, which could get you into
trouble with somebody who knew something about the
topic.
In
other words, it’s better than the
Wall
Street Journal Editorial
Page—but not as good as VDARE.COM!
I also
strongly recommend that you donate
to VDARE.COM.
Why?
Because unlike these fly-by-night undocumented documents
floating about cyber-space, VDARE.COM has an address.
The
articles on VDARE.COM contain lots of hyper-links, so
you can look up the documentation for yourself. And, if
you care to, you can write to our authors and dialogue
with them and even argue with them. You can ask for
clarification.
That’s
why VDARE.COM is much better than dubious documents such
as the one dealt with above. So donate today, to keep us
in business. You can donate here.
It’s a great investment for our nation’s future.
Now,
I’d like to close the article with a list of my articles
that deal with Mexican immigration law and practice.
(Some of them are already hyperlinked above.) These,
unlike the document we discussed above, are documented.
I invite you to read them and use them as sources.
And if you have
a question, you can write me about it here.
Allan
Wall’s suggested articles:
Learning About Immigration Policy From Mexico
(Basic Mexican Immigration Law and what we can learn
from it.)
Gringo Meddlers Expelled From Mexico! (Now What About Mexican Meddlers
Here?)
(What
gringos shouldn’t do in Mexico.)
More Hypocrisy : How Mexico Handles Its Own Illegal Immigration
Gringo Hordes Invading Mexico? Yeah, Right
(What
about those American retirees in Mexico?)
Police Cooperate
With Immigration Authorities—In Mexico!
The Border Is Already Militarized—On The Mexican Side!
Mexican Illegals Breaking Mexican Law Too!
(A
little known detail our leaders ought to point out to
Mexican officials.)
Drawing The Wrong Conclusions About The San Miguel, Mexico, Gringo
Colony
Why Is Mexico’s Voter Registration System Better Than Ours?
Americans In Mexico : Turnabout Not Fair Play
Why Mexican Hospital Emergency Rooms Aren’t Swamped
(Because they’re used as emergency rooms!)
How Mexico Handles llegals—Oops, Mexican Indians!
Mexican Police, Marines Beating Up (Central American) Illegal Aliens In
Mexico
Migrants, Drugs
And Disease On Which Border?
Mexican Police Gas
Central American Illegal Aliens
What Happens When
You Run A Mexican Checkpoint
Citizens To Vote
On Installation Of Border Fence—In Mexico!
In San Nicolas,
Mexico, Citizens Approve Border Fence
Tijuana Police
Accused Of Mistreating Deported Illegal Aliens
Dealing With
Unruly Illegal Aliens American citizen Allan Wall (email him) resides in Mexico, with a legal permit issued him by the Mexican government. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here and his website is here. |
