Minuteman National Blog

The AP reports on a bust at a construction site for a Wal-Mart distribution center near Pottsville, Pa.

An excerpt:

The workers, who Wal-Mart said were employed by a subcontractor and not by the retailing giant, were detained Thursday on suspected immigration violations, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Marc Raimondi. They were being taken to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers for processing, he said.

SNIP

At least 120 illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, were detained, Schuylkill County Sheriff Frank McAndrew said. He said he began investigating the site and contacted federal officials after getting complaints from local tradespeople.

"You''ve got a situation here where illegal immigrants are coming into Schuylkill County and taking (local union workers'') jobs for eight bucks an hour. They are working for poverty wages, and creating unemployment because our skilled tradesmen are out of work," McAndrew said.

In 2003, a raid of 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states led to the arrests of 245 illegal workers. An affidavit claimed a pair of senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case but denied senior executives knew of the hirings.

The Washington Times reports on a meeting held yesterday by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments on day labor sites in the D.C. area.

An excerpt:

"Local governments need to find solutions for local issues," said J. Walter Tejada, Arlington County Board member. "For those who want to talk about immigration, please run over to [Capitol] Hill and talk to the legislators there in Congress and the president. They''re the ones who can make that type of legislation come through."

Prince George''s County Council member Will Campos, a Democrat, agreed.

"A lot of day laborers are in fact undocumented, and even though immigration is a federal issue, that fact alone isn''t going to get rid of this situation," he said. "So you can either choose to let it go or do something about it because if you leave it to the federal government, you may be waiting for quite a while."

Both men made their comments yesterday at a summit where about 100 advocacy group members and elected officials heard recommendations on how to deal with the gathering of day laborers at sites throughout the Washington area.

SNIP

Local jurisdictions are deciding whether to establish formal gathering sites for day laborers, many of whom are illegal aliens. Some centers are funded by taxpayer money.

During the summer, Herndon came under fire when its council approved a formal gathering site for day laborers. As a result, six residents have sued the town, and a local Minuteman chapter has begun monitoring employers who hire illegals outside a 7-Eleven in town.

Last month, a plan to open a formal day-laborer center in Gaithersburg was put on hold after residents complained that the city didn''t discuss the matter publicly.

Day laborers gather at at least eight formal or informal spots in Northern Virginia, six in the Maryland suburbs and two in the District.

The Houston Chronicle reports on yesterday''s day labor site observation by Minutemen:

But Phil Johnson, the local head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said the group was not trying to make the workers run. He said they were observing the employers who picked up the men and taking down their license-plate numbers to use the information against those contractors in the future.

"We''re really going to go after those employers," Johnson said. "We''re going to let them know what the penalties are" for hiring illegal immigrants.

Federal law allows for fines of between $110 and $1,100 for every illegal immigrant an employer hires. Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the government welcomes complaints from the community about the hiring of illegal immigrants.

But a report from the Government Accountability Office earlier this year noted that "workplace enforcement has been a low priority" for the government. ICE has just 90 employees nationwide who investigate the hiring of illegal immigrants, and most of their time in recent years has been spent investigating airports, nuclear plants or other facilities considered critical to national security, the report said.

The Rocky Mountain News reports on a hearing held by the Republican Study Committee of Colorado on the issue of illegal immigration.

An excerpt:

It was chaired by state Rep. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who joined two colleagues last month on a trip to Arizona to meet with lawmakers, talk with border residents and patrol the border with members of Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, a citizens group.

The hearing was billed as an effort to give legislators expert testimony on immigration issues.

The Colorado legislature is expected this year to see bills to limit state services to illegal immigrants, and a citizen initiative to do the same is in the works.

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., called for the government to gradually reduce the number of undocumented people by strictly enforcing laws barring them from working. He also called for tax and Social Security officials to enforce immigration law.

After lunch, former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm advocated tighter border controls and limiting services to illegal immigrants, calling it a "cost- benefit" issue.

"Sure, they pay sales tax. Sure, they''re hard-working people. But you get little withholding from their wages. They send their money back to Mexico or somewhere else south of the border. You don''t get tax dollars from the revenue side."

Lamm said illegal immigrant labor drives down wages, costing $20 million a year in lost income.

Kent Lambert, executive director of the Republican Study Committee of Colorado, asked Lamm about the notion that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs Americans won''t do.

"If we do away with slavery, who''s going to pick the cotton?" retorted Lamm. "The claim that they''re doing the work other Americans won''t do is vastly overblown."

KVOA-TV in Tucson reports on the gruesome contract between the Mexican government and Baylor University to identify illegal border crossers who don''t make it. Maybe the designer shoe maker in New York City can get a grant from the Mexican government to include a place to stick an ID card in the shoes she''s giving away to help illegals cross the border.

Mexico recently finalized a contract paying $150,000 to Baylor University, where a forensic anthropologist does DNA analysis on bones and sends the information to a database developed by the Mexican government, officials announced Tuesday.

Remains of three immigrants have been identified so far, and another identification is tentative.

"(It''s) a very important tool available ... to bring closure to a very tragic episode in the life of a good number of Mexican families," said Marco Antonio Fraire, director general of protection for Mexico''s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The illegal immigrant population in the U.S. is about 11 million, including nearly 6 million from Mexico. Nearly 700 bodies have been found in several states along the U.S.-Mexico border since October 2003, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The database, called the System for the Identification of Remains and Localization of Individuals, contains information submitted by the immigrants'' families, such as photographs, as well as fingerprints and signatures from military and voter lists.

The New York Daily News reports on a fashion shoe designer who''s giving away sneakers to facilitate illegal border crossers:

Brooklyn artist Judi Werthein is jumping into the volatile debate over illegal immigration by creating special high tops designed for sneaking into the United States.

A map of the border area around Tijuana, Mexico, and the best routes to San Diego is printed on the removable insole. A compass and tiny flashlight are fixed to the shoelaces, helping the wearer travel day or night.

The "Brinco" - jump in Spanish - is olive green with an Aztec eagle on the heel and an American eagle on the toe, symbolizing the home they are leaving and the dream they are chasing.

Werthein, who immigrated legally from Argentina to Brooklyn in 1997, sells the shoes for $215 to well-heeled customers at galleries like Printed Matter in Chelsea. She hands out the rest to migrants in Tijuana preparing to make the dangerous trek into the U.S.

SNIP

"What she''s doing is helping people break the law," said Peter Lanteri, New York spokesman for the Minutemen, a citizens'' group that patrols the Mexican border to try to deter illegal immigration. "That''s only going to encourage more people to break the law. Instead, she should be focusing on making it easier for people to come here legally."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

PARTIAL VICTORY CLAIMED,
BUT MINUTEMEN OUTRAGED BY LAW & ORDER
‘NEW YORK MINUTE’ PROMOTION & BROADCAST

NBC’S SLANDERS MINUTEMEN AS MASS MURDERERS

TOMBSTONE, AZ (November 17, 2005) – As a result of the outcry by Minuteman volunteers and their supporters nationwide, the National Broadcasting Company (“NBC”) removed the name “Minutemen” from its on-air promotion yesterday of the Law & Order episode, “New York Minute.”

While this represents a partial victory over NBC’s abuse of the good name of the Minutemen, it does not mitigate the harm done to the Minutemen nor the danger to them by NBC’s attempt to ‘enrage America’ at the Minutemen.

That NBC dropped the name “Minutemen” from its on-air promotion demonstrates the network recognized it had a severe problem on its hands.

Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc. (“MCDC”), issued the following statement denouncing NBC for its slanderous promotion of the Law & Order episode last night that smeared the Minutemen as thugs and mass murderers:

“We endeavored in good faith to contact NBC regarding our concerns about the promotion and broadcast of the ‘New York Minute’ episode of Law & Order that aired last night. Unfortunately, NBC refused to respond to our numerous attempts to contact them and aired the episode.

“NBC repeatedly broadcast promotions for the episode that stated ‘was it murder or Minutemen protecting our borders?” Last night just hours before the broadcast, the NBC Web site for Law & Order displayed the text, ‘Cold-blooded murder or Minutemen vigilantes on the U.S. border?’

“Even though the episode itself used the name ‘Countrymen’ for the border watch group instead of ‘Minutemen’ as advertised, damage had already been done to the Minutemen by NBC’s incessant naming of the ‘Minutemen’ in its promotion and campaign to entice and inflame the public leading up to the broadcast.

“We held out hope that the episode would end with a plot twist that reflected the truth: that it is smugglers who threaten, kidnap and murder their human cargo. However, NBC portrayed the group advertised as the Minutemen, in real life a group of civilian volunteers with an unblemished record of non-violence, as gunning down a human trafficker, attempting to kidnap at knifepoint an illegal alien and of literally cooking to death a dozen illegal aliens in a cargo truck.

“NBC promised the episode would ‘enrage America.’ Because of that provocative statement and the false light in which NBC portrayed the Minutemen, members of our group have reason to fear acts of violent retribution against them and their families by enraged Americans and others who believe that Law & Order stories are ‘ripped from today’s headlines.’

“NBC has acted with reckless disregard for the truth in an effort to harm the Minutemen by its promotion and broadcast of the Law & Order episode, ‘New York Minute.’ That NBC did this during November sweeps when the network tries to maximize ratings so as to line its pockets with increased advertising dollars makes this slander of the Minutemen even more despicable.”

The sister organizations Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc., and the Minuteman Project, Inc., are recognized nationally as the founders and leaders of the civilian border watch and day labor site observation movement. The names “Minutemen” and “Minuteman” are regularly used by the public and the media to describe our organizations and our members.

The Minutemen have rescued hundreds of men, women and children who have been abandoned to die in the desert wilderness by their human traffickers.

NBC has edited its promo for tonight''s Law & Order episode so that the word "Minutemen" has been replaced by the word "someone."

The edited promo was aired during E-Ring at 8 p.m. EST this evening.

The old "was it murder or Minutemen protecting our borders?" now says "was it murder or someone protecting our borders?"

However, damage has already been done as the old promo ran repeatedly on NBC.

In addition, the Law & Order website on NBC.com promotes tonight''s episode with the following language:

Cold-blooded murder or Minutemen vigilantes on the U.S. border?

Note the capitalized "M" in Minutemen used by NBC.

Law & Order airs at 10 p.m. EST. We''ll be watching.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NBC’S LAW & ORDER DEFAMES MINUTEMEN
WITH ACCUSATIONS OF MURDER

LETTER SENT DEMANDING NETWORK PULL PROMOS AND EPISODE SCHEDULED TO AIR TONIGHT

TOMBSTONE, AZ (November 16, 2005) – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc., (“MCDC”), has sent a letter to the National Broadcasting Company (“NBC”) demanding the network immediately cease and desist airing defamatory promotions for tonight’s scheduled broadcast of Law & Order and that NBC pull the episode, titled “New York Minute,” that accuses the Minutemen of murder.

The letter was faxed to the office of NBC President Jeffrey Zucker this morning after the legal department for NBC failed to respond to previous communications.

Simcox also demands that NBC remove all mention of the Minutemen from the episode before it is aired at a later date and that NBC broadcast on its network an apology to the Minutemen as many times and in the same time slots as the offending promotions were aired.

The promotion NBC has been airing on its network for the Law & Order episode describes “twelve immigrants, cooked alive in a boiling hot truck” and asks, “was it murder, or Minutemen protecting our borders?” as the word Minutemen is flashed on the screen.

In the promotion, NBC promises the episode “will enrage America.”

Simcox issued the following statement:

“The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc., and its sister organization, the Minuteman Project, Inc., are the recognized founders and leaders of the civilian border watch and day labor site observation movement. The public and the media routinely refer to our members as ‘Minutemen’ and ‘Minuteman’ when talking about the issues of border security and illegal immigration.

“By publicly and repeatedly accusing the Minutemen of murder on its network, and by its promise to ‘enrage America,’ NBC is inciting the public which will likely result in acts of violence against members of the Minutemen and their families.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that NBC is using November sweeps to pump up its ratings and profits by smearing the Minutemen as murderers and placing our members’ safety in jeopardy in its attempt to ‘enrage America.’

“There has not been one incident of a member of our organizations committing acts of violence on our patrols, let alone murder. To the contrary, our members have rescued hundreds of men, women and children abandoned to die in the desert wilderness by their human traffickers.

“We are awaiting a response from NBC.”

The AP reports the Border Patrol in Arizona is getting its infrastructure beefed up a little:

The U.S. Border Patrol is expanding its infrastructure in Southern Arizona, adding $34 million in new buildings in Tucson and looking at four other locales to accommodate six times as many agents as it had here a decade ago.

The agency is constructing four buildings totaling more than 64,000 square feet at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

The new buildings are needed to help house about 100 agents and administrative personnel as well as to bring together its search and rescue teams and a garage, said Tucson Sector spokeswoman Andrea Zortman.

Other construction plans include new buildings in Ajo, Naco, Willcox and Sonoita.

In 2003, the Border Patrol completed construction of its $23 million Douglas Station, currently the largest Border Patrol station in the country.

More buildings. That''s what we need right now is more buildings. That''ll secure the border!

The AP reports New Mexico is getting a few more Border Patrol agents next year:

The Border Patrol plans to add 265 permanent agents to New Mexico beginning next year.

That word today from Governor Bill Richardson''s office.

The Border Patrol is adding 185 agents at its Deming and Lordsburg stations, plus 80 in Alamogordo and Las Cruces.

SNIP

Well, that makes it all better now, doesn''t it?

WTNH-TV reported yesterday on death threats against a Danbury, Connecticut newspaper publisher for cooperating with the TV station''s investigation into illegal housing and documents.

An excerpt:

The publisher of a community newspaper is now receiving death threats for taking part in an Exclusive News Channel 8 investigation into illegal housing and documents.

Two Danbury police cruisers outside the offices of the Tribuna newspaper. Officers arrived after someone walked into the newspaper and reported overhearing a group of people plotting to harm Emanuela Lima, a reporter at Tribuna.

Lima recently did an interview with News Channel 8 on illegal housing and the illegal document trade in Danbury.

Since our series on illegal immigration aired, Tribuna has been receiving threats by e-mail fax and phone calls like this one.

"Things are really going to get ugly. Ugly for that family, I hope," says Emanuela Lima, quoting the threats. "If we don''t act, what will be next."

Other Brazilian newspapers in Danbury are blasting the Tribuna. One newspaper headline says Treason. Another says Revolt. The newspapers are upset that the Tribuna took part in our stories. SNIP

WTNH-TV reported on November 3 about the illegal immigration crisis in Danbury, Connecticut. Don''t worry, they''re just taking over the towns that Americans are too lazy to take over.

An excerpt:

The City of Danbury has become a major battleground in the war over illegal immigration. It''s estimated Danbury has any where from 10,000 to 20,000 new immigrants. And while immigrants have helped revitalize the city''s downtown, the number of undocumented workers have also put a severe strain on city services.

It''s up to the federal government to do with illegal immigration but it''s local communities that have to deal its effects. Ground Zero in Connecticut without a doubt is Danbury.

These days Main Street in Danbury looks more like a main street you would find in a South American town. Thousands of the city''s residents are from Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico. Many of them are here illegally and many are here for the same reason.

"My country is poor there is not much work," says one immigrant.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton says he is "incredibly frustrated."

"We want to be reimbursed for the cost of hosting so many people who are not legal. There is a tremendous impact."

Click the title link to read how the city is dealing with the dangerous conditions created by illegals overcrowding apartments in Danbury.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger has a sobering article today on the massive influx of illegal aliens from Brazil. New Jersey is not alone in this.

An excerpt:

Every Sunday, the Rev. Moacir Weirich asks the group of Brazilian immigrants attending church services in Newark to say a few words about what they''re praying for.

For Weirich''s first three years as pastor, they prayed mostly over the trials of everyday life. "My sister Maria is sick," Weirich recalls a typical petition. Or, "I can''t find a job."

About five years ago, he says, things began to change.

One man asked God to help his friend, who was locked in a house in Mexico until he could pay off the smugglers he had hired to take him to the U.S.

Another man asked the group to pray for his wife, who was making the dangerous desert crossing that claims hundreds of lives every year. Someone else asked the group to pray for a pregnant friend preparing to wade across the Rio Grande.

"Eight months'' pregnant and she walked across the river and then she showed up at our door here," Moacir said, his voice quavering. "I can''t even tell these stories, it''s so heartbreaking."

During the past several years, the river of illegal immigrants flowing across the nation''s treacherous southwestern border has included a skyrocketing number of Brazilians, U.S. government statistics show.

The entire article is worth reading. Click the title link above.

Newsday reports today on the East Hampton Police Department''s actions to fight back against employers who willfully break the law by hiring illegal aliens.

An excerpt:

The two Ecuadorean day laborers were standing outside the East Hampton train station yesterday at 7:15 a.m. hoping for a daily job in construction, landscaping, painting or anything.

But thanks to an aggressive campaign by the East Hampton Village Police Department aimed at cracking down on undocumented workers and the people who hire them, they were out of luck.

"We can''t work because the contractors are afraid," one of the immigrants, Andres, 58, said in Spanish, nervously eyeing a patrol car down the street and declining to give his last name.

The effort is the latest salvo fired in the battle about day laborers in Suffolk County, where a crackdown on illegally overcrowded housing in Farmingville has led to the eviction of scores of Latino immigrants since the summer.

SNIP

The campaign officially kicked off yesterday with a police car parked at the train station from 6 to 11 a.m. An officer was assigned to take photographs of the license plates of any vehicle whose occupants stopped to pick up a day laborer. Larsen said the photographs would be sent to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the New York State Department of Labor, agencies he hopes will investigate the contractors and help keep them out of East Hampton.

Sounds like Operation Spotlight. We wonder if The Washington Post will tell the East Hampton police to "go home."

The Fox News Channel had an interview of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last night on Hannity and Colmes.

The full transcript and video link are available at the title link. An excerpt:

HANNITY: You and I have discussed at length the issue of immigration.

And I say, and tell me if you agree, that the number one area of vulnerability and susceptibility we have to terror is at our borders.

Do you agree with that statement?

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I think that there is no question the front line of defense is at the border.

And we do have to worry about the large number of people who come in and the large amount of cargo that comes in. And that''s the kind of potential threat, even if it''s only one out of a million, that we have to spend our resources focusing on.

SNIP

HANNITY: Do you then foresee a day in the next two, three years where it''s impenetrable?

Can we actually create security where nobody is going to be able to cross the border because we have enough infrastructure and have enough manpower?

I mean, is that day coming?

CHERTOFF: Yes.

I think we have...

HANNITY: How soon would that be?

CHERTOFF: I think we have a day coming. I can''t give you dates. It is not going to happen overnight.

It is not even going to happen in one year, but I think what we''re building to over the next — over the next two to three years is a system where we have control over the border, and what that means is, such a high likelihood of catching somebody, and not releasing them into the community but sending them back, that we actually stop people from coming across the border. SNIP

There''s more, of course. Chertoff is talking tougher, but the sense of immediacy to shut down the border to illegal entry isn''t there yet.

Human Events published a scathing opinion piece by Paul Weyrich on the failure of the Republican party to deal with the crises of illegal immigration and our open borders.

An excerpt:

Let me put this bluntly. On no issue have a Republican administration and a Republican House and Senate more blatantly or more cynically sold out the conservative movement and our country than on immigration. Their inaction on this issue-or worse, actions that would make the problem even worse, like the administration’s proposed amnesty for illegals-are a scandal and a disgrace. Conservatives should be hopping mad about it, mad enough to tell Republicans that they will not have our votes unless they change. I would rather stay home on Election Day than vote for someone who believes in open borders.

Weyrich is one of the fathers of the modern day conservative movement. He was honored at a dinner last night by the Heritage Foundation that featured a keynote address by Sean Hannity. Weyrich was the first president of the Heritage Foundation.

Well, Minutemen, the message is getting out and more people are starting to "get it".

This edtorial from Suburban Chicago News is a good example.

Several hours before the Minuteman organizational meeting in Elgin Thursday, Dale Asis, director of the Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigration of Illinois, called me. He had written a letter, he said, and he wanted us to publish it.

The suggested headline on the letter began "Minutemen are racists" and the letter said the group spreads "hate, fear and racism" and attracts members of hate groups like neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Hard to tell which group was supposed to be using fear, hatred and racism to further their cause. Nothing in the points raised by Minuteman Project leaders suggested it was they who were promoting divisiveness or hatred.

[snip]

First, this discussion and growing despair is not about immigration. It is about illegal immigration. All of us came from somewhere else and most of us realize that will and should continue. Those who waited their turn, followed the procedures and arrived here legally are welcome, and no one that I have heard of is trying to stop that.

[snip]

Those who attended the Minuteman Project meeting in Elgin Thursday night were not racists. They were largely ordinary citizens looking for some hope, some inspiration that someone would have the courage to attack the issue of illegal immigration in light of our government''s willful failure to do so.

The only hatred in evidence was from those who opposed them.

Click here for the whole article -- it''s worth reading. This may be a short lived link as it seems to go directly to Mike Bailey''s daily column without regard to date.

KTVT-TV in Dallas reports on the sad story of a police officer killed in the line of duty. The suspected killer is reported to be an illegal alien who shot him when the officer responded to a call. The officer, Brian Jackson, was 28 years old and had been married in August. he had just returned from his honeymoon.

An excerpt:

According to police, 28-year-old Juan Lizcano threatened his former girlfriend and earlier fired a handgun inside her house before leaving.

Lizcano returned about 45 minutes later.

When officers arrived at the residence and chased the suspect, police say Lizcano hid between two houses and fired at them.

Jackson was struck once below his right arm — near his protective vest — and died a short while later at Baylor Hospital.

Jackson married two months ago and Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle was visibly shaken as he conveyed the widow’s words to North Texans: compassionate.

Police say Lizcano is an illegal immigrant. He faces capital murder charges and is being held on $1 million bond.

If convicted, Lizcano could receive the death penalty.

Other news accounts report the suspect had been arrested twice in the past few months and that he had been in the country for about two years.

Officer Jackson was from Rhode Island. Details about his life and service can be found here.

Condolences to his wife and family.

The Washington Post published a house editorial on Sunday that lambastes the Minutemen while giving a pass to illegal aliens and the employers who knowingly break the law by hiring them. The editorial is titled, "Minutemen, Go Home".

An excerpt:

Reveling in self-importance, the Minutemen and their ilk say they are plugging enforcement gaps that the federal government has left open. In fact they are underemployed amateurs more interested in posturing than problem-solving.

The Post engages in more name calling in the editorial. Did you know that you''re a "crank"? The Post says you are. And what''s this business about telling the Minutemen to "go home"? We are home!

Here''s an interesting commentary from the Myrtle Beach Sun on the one-sidedness of Mexico''s demands for immigration reform.

It has long been held by most countries that immigration policy must be based on what is best for the country, not for the immigrant.

Mexico''s immigration policy is very much based on this concept, as it should be. It is not easy for foreigners to simply apply for and receive a work-permit visa. Even to purchase a vacation home whether through title or a bank-trust (fideicomiso) in the foreign ownership forbidden zones requires a visa and proof of income from outside Mexico. Such visas are easy to obtain but must be renewed annually and do not permit holders to work in Mexico. Foreigners retiring in Mexico to obtain a visa must show proof of no less than $1,500 per month, and such a visa will not allow them to work.

Like the U.S. and other countries, Mexico does make it easy for certain individuals to obtain permanent residency (and eventual citizenship) allowing work in certain professions or for executives of multinational companies working in Mexico, business, industrial and real estate investors, etc. Such visas are clearly in Mexico''s best interest, but like in the U.S., a low-income foreigner looking to immigrate to Mexico to compete with low-income national workers has no chance of being welcomed.

However, Mexico wants - no, insists - that the best U.S. immigration policy is one that considers what is best for Mexican immigrants and Mexico, while paying only lip service to their needed reforms negating the need for Mexicans to seek economic asylum in the U.S. And this is of course where the friction comes in. But, the U.S. bears much of the blame for spoiling Mexico on this issue.

It''s a good read, with several issues brought into sharp focus.