October 28, 2009

Memo From Middle America (Formerly Known As Memo From Mexico), By Allan Wall

Shocked - Shocked To Find Corruption At A Mexican Consulate!

Have you heard the news? The Mexican consulate in Dallas is currently undergoing a change of leadership. Enrique Hubbard, the former consul general, is being replaced by Juan Carlos Cue. The new chief Mexican in Dallas has formerly served as consul general in El Paso, and comes to Dallas from his post as Mexican ambassador to Kenya. Maybe that means he’ll get along well with Obama! [Mexico Appoints New Head of Mexican Consulate for Dallas Diane Solis, Dallas Morning News, October 13, 2009]

Is this change at the consulate just a routine shuffling of diplomatic personnel? It’s true that Mexican diplomats usually serve in a post for two to four years, and Hubbard has just finished three years.

But it’s quite likely that Hubbard is being moved out because the Dallas consulate is the scene of a major scandal still under investigation by the Mexican government.

More on that later.

The Mexican consulate in Dallas, visited by 700 people a day, is considered Mexico’s most important consulate after those in Los Angeles and Chicago.

And that’s no small feat. Mexico runs the biggest network of foreign consulates in the U.S. As a matter of fact, it’s also the biggest network of consulates in the world. According to Wikipedia, no other country has as many consulates in one host country. Is this all really necessary? Think about it, Mexico is our neighbor. It’s not that far for Mexicans in the U.S. to return to Mexico and take care of business if they need to. So why does Mexico have so many consulates on U.S. soil?

Of course, the consulates do some legitimate work, although it could be handled by a smaller number. Thus they deal with American citizen business. For example, in 1991, before I moved to Mexico to work, I had to have my college diploma approved and stamped by the Mexican consulate in Dallas. Of course, Mexico didn’t issue me my diploma, but they had to stamp it anyway as part of my process to apply for work in the country.

Needless to say, there are no such requirements for Mexicans immigrating to the U.S.—even apart from the fact that so many do so illegally.

The bottom line on Mexico’s massive network of consulates: from an American point of view, they do a lot of damage.

Mexican consulates in the U.S. are centers of Mexican political activism. They get away with things that no self-respecting country would allow. They give advice to illegal aliens and link up with activists who promote illegal immigration and the Hispanicization of our country. Mexican diplomats frequently make public pronouncements on U.S. immigration policy and put pressure on our immigration authorities not to enforce the law. But our government has never reprimanded any of these undiplomatic meddlers.

You don’t have to take my word for it. The Mexicans boast about it, Arturo Sarukhan, currently Mexican ambassador to the U.S., had this to say about the Mexican diplomatic network in the U.S.:

"Certainly the only way in which Mexico can advance a comprehensive agenda with the United States is if we use the (Mexican) embassy and the network of consulates as beachheads of lobbying for the image, the interests and the agenda of Mexico in all of U.S. territory and with all sectors of American society."

Mexican consulates distribute the matricula consular cards, which are used to keep illegals from being deported. The Dallas consulate issues about 50,000 of these things a year.

Of course, these cards only work because so many local U.S. governments accept them. If we didn’t accept them, they’d be harmless.

Here at VDARE.COM, we’ve been writing about meddling Mexican diplomats for years, see here for example .

Back to the Dallas consulate. Enrique Hubbard, the outgoing consul general, was in that position since 2006.

Enrique Hubbard’s Anglo-Saxon surname indicates he had an American or British ancestor, as some other prominent Mexicans. But don’t be deceived by the surname—he’s still a loyal Mexican. There is no Anglo-Mexican lobby existing south of the border comparable to the Hispanic lobby in the U.S.

When living in Mexico I fancifully speculated from time to time about such a possibility. Mexico, however, would never allow such a thing.

While in Dallas, Hubbard certainly did his share of meddling.

The Dallas Morning News’ Alfredo Corchado reported

"During his three years as consul general in Dallas, Hubbard gained a reputation as a strong advocate of immigrant rights. He took what many considered to be tough and bold stances against groups who painted Mexican immigrants as villains. He was also vocal against policies that targeted illegal immigrants living and working in Farmers Branch and Irving."

Mexico Removing Dallas Consul General Amid Investigation, August 15, 2009

Throughout 2007, from January to December, Hubbard was publicly bellyaching, on TV and radio stations, about immigration raids that detained illegal aliens, as a result of cooperation between local police and immigration authorities. Then he complained about receiving negative mail from Americans for his bellyaching.

In Mexico, however, local police are not only allowed, they are required to enforce Mexican immigration law.

Also during Hubbard’s time, the Dallas consulate aided illegal alien "refugees" fleeing tougher laws in Oklahoma, Georgia and Arizona.

So what about the corruption scandal for which the Dallas consulate is being investigated by the Mexican government?

Obviously, they are not being investigated for meddling in U.S. politics, since that’s part of the consulate’s mission.

No, the corruption consisted of defrauding fellow Mexicans.

Here’s the story from the Dallas Morning News, which has been following the case:

"The Mexican Foreign Ministry on Saturday reiterated that any financial irregularities committed at its consulates would not be tolerated and that appropriate action would be taken to weed out corruption."

"The announcement followed a report Saturday in The Dallas Morning News about alleged financial irregularities at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, the nation's third busiest. The report, citing as sources a senior Mexican official familiar with the investigation and three other Mexican officials, said that consulate staff members had personally profited from selling passport photos and from skimming money from passport fees paid by customers. "

[Mexico Vows to Weed Out Consulate Corruption After Passport-Scam Inquiry, Alfredo Corchado, Dallas Morning News, Aug. 16^th, 2009]

"Skimming money from passport fees"? Can you believe it?

Hubbard has claimed to know nothing of all this.

I’m reminded of that famous scene from Casablanca in which Captain Renault declares that "I’m shocked – shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."

Not that all this started under Hubbard’s watch, either. This particular passport scam is said to have been going on for at least seven years. But Hubbard failed to do anything about it, and has claimed not to have known about it.

Nevertheless, he’s been transferred out of Dallas. But don’t worry, he’s not leaving the U.S. He’s going to the American University in Washington, to teach and do research!

So you can expect to hear his pronouncements on U.S. politics from time to time.

OK, so there’s corruption in the Mexican diplomatic corps. There are way too many Mexican consulates in the U.S. And Mexican diplomats too often meddle in our own internal affairs.

But when has Washington done anything about all this? When has a Mexican diplomat ever been reprimanded for meddling?

The next time some arrogant Mexican diplomat starts haranguing our policemen for enforcing the law, or making pronouncements about U.S. legislation, or any such brazen meddling, his diplomatic credentials should be revoked and he should be kicked out of the country.

Can you imagine the outcry among the Treason Lobby crowd and the Mexican government?

Oh, it would be entertaining.

What if it became a U.S. policy to protect our sovereignty like this? Wouldn’t Mexican diplomats finally get the message and start behaving like diplomats—not as representatives of an emerging state within a state?

Add it to the to-do list—for when we get a patriot President.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) recently moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. 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.