The Black Informant

The sweetness of American milk

First, the news…

Latin leaders balk at US ‘wall’

By Danna Harman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
NOGALES, MEXICO – Some envision a wall. Others, a fence - or even a “virtual” fence of cameras, lighting, and sensors along the US-Mexican border. Whatever form it will take, the US is discussing, planning, and, in some places, already building it - much to the fury and frustration of neighbors south of the border.

As Mexican President Vicente Fox prepares to meet Thursday with President Bush and Canada’s new prime minister, Stephen Harper, in Cancún, the proposed 700-mile, $2.2 billion barrier is a major point of contention - not just for the US and Mexico, but for the US and the whole region.

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“It is hard to imagine any other symbol that more strongly reinforces the image of the “ugly American” and is more sharply at odds with the “good neighbor” concept.”

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“No country that is proud of itself should build walls,” Fox told reporters when he last met Bush one year ago, and a month after the House began talks on approving a fence. “[I]t doesn’t make any sense.”

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Okay, I had enough!!!

While thousands of Mexicans took to the streets to protest against legislation that will make it illegal to be an illegal resident in this country (someone please explain that one for me), very little attention was given to the fact that their own country (Mexico) regularly kicks out “illegals” that cross into Mexico from its southern border.

Now this is something that I have discussed a while ago on this site, but I still want to revisit this double standard that has been going on for years.

Let’s begin:

Mexico accused of abusing its illegals

By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The State Department says that the Mexican government, angry that a thousand American volunteers will begin an Arizona border vigil next month, consistently violates the rights of illegal immigrants crossing its southern border into Mexico.
Many of the illegals in Mexico, who emigrate from Central and South America, complain of “double dangers” of extortion by Mexican authorities and robbery and killings by organized gangs.
The State Department’s Human Rights Practices report, released only last month, cites abuses at all levels of the Mexican government, and charges that Mexican police and immigration officials not only violate the rights of illegal immigrants, but traffic in illegal aliens.

Although Mexico demands that its citizens’ rights be protected when they illegally enter the United States, immigrants who cross illegally into Mexico “are often ripped off six ways until sundown,” says George Grayson, a professor at the College of William & Mary and a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
Mr. Grayson, who wrote a report for the center on Mexico’s abuses of aliens, says “very little” is being done by Mexico to protect the welfare of the Central Americans and the others who cross into Mexico. (more…)

Another article that breaks down the illegal immigration issue in Mexico is “Mexico’s Forgotten Southern Border:Does Mexico practice at home what it preaches abroad?”. This article also discusses how these illegal immigrants are given low wages to work jobs that are apparently too unfit for Mexicans–GO FIGURE!!!

As far as the cost to the American taxpayer, a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies provides a good overview on this issue. Here is an excerpt:

This study is one of the first to estimate the total impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Most previous studies have focused on the state and local level and have examined only costs or tax payments, but not both. Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29 billion.

Among the findings:

* Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household.

* Among the largest costs are Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treatment for the uninsured ($2.2 billion); food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion). (click here for the rest of the article)

Here is another article on the cost of illegal immigration in the Phoenix, AZ area.

And another.

While I agree that:

a) many illegal immigrants are here in the United States to provide income for their families

b) building a 700 mile wall is too simple of a solution to a complex problem that requires tougher and effective controls.

c) Bush along with most Democrats and Republicans have done a piss-poor job dealing with this issue.

d) this issue is about illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants.
I strongly dissagree with this notion that America BY DEFAULT should the the world’s wet nurse. “Free milk” might be sweeter, but it is at someone else’s expense–the American taxpayer. If millions of Mexicans can organize a one-day event to send a message to Washington, WHY CAN’T THEY USE THAT SAME INGENUITY TO DEMAND THAT THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT DO FOR THEM WHAT AMERICA HAS DONE FOR “FREE”?

Michael Cobb over at the blog for The Conservative Brotherhood makes the following statement:

The principle is simple. You want to integrate? Then integrate. That means you follow the rules of the society. America is not a shopping mall. It is a nation. You don’t just come here to shop for jobs. What we defend here is precious and we do it at great expense. You can’t come and go at your leisure. A nation is comprised of citizens, not shoppers, not contractors, not day laborers, part-timers and commuters. This is not a drive-by nation. There is too much blood, sweat and tears invested in making this nation work as a nation for people to come through here and cherry pick its benefits. The freeway isn’t free, it was paid for with taxes. Taxes from our sweat, only through the consent of a people satisfied that the government collecting them was responsible to the people, the Citizens of the United States. I hear some say that Mexicans spend taxes too, and so the price is paid. Ha. That undermines the entire concept of citizenship. You don’t simply keep Mexican citizenship and pay off the tax man. This is about being part of the People. America is not your hotel. Play by the rules - the same rules as generations of people from all over the world played by. Obey the laws. Speak the language. Pledge allegiance. Get along with your neighbors. Be a good citizen, or be gone.” (more…)

I could not have said it any better.

Because of time, I will not begin to delve in 53 percent functional illiterate rate amongst the Los Angeles’ adult population and how it has made the Los Angeles Unified and surrounding school districts some of the worst in the nation.

Last thing–I personally believe that this well coordinated demonstration took place on March 25th was no coincidence. For you historians out there, this is the same day in 1965 that the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama was completed. This is not the first time the black civil rights movement has been used as the door mat for other causes. The Civil Rights movement was about gaining equal treatment of those that were already LEGAL residents of the US.