Diplomats from Mexico and Central America on Monday demanded guest worker programs and the legalization of undocumented migrants in the United States, while criticizing a U.S. proposal for tougher border enforcement.
Meeting in Mexico's capital, the regional officials pledged to do more to fight migrant trafficking, but indirectly condemned a U.S. bill that would make illegal entry a felony and extend border walls.
"Migrants, regardless of their migratory status, should not be treated like criminals," they said.
The countries represented at the meeting — including Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Honduras, Belize and Panama — created a working group to design a regional policy to avoid migrant abuse and to follow the course of the legislation.
"There has to be an integrated reform that includes a temporary worker program, but also the regularization of those people who are already living in receptor countries," Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said.
Derbez has called the measure — which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month but still must go before the Senate — "stupid and underhanded," but was somewhat more restrained on Monday, saying "it's not the Mexican government's position to tell the U.S. Senate what to do."
The U.S. proposal has caused widespread resentment in Mexico, where some have accused President
Vicente Fox's administration of not being assertive enough in opposing it. Fox has called the bill shameful.
Mexicans working in the United States are a huge source of revenue for Mexico, sending home more than $16 billion in remittances in 2004, Mexico's second largest source of foreign currency after oil exports according to the country's central bank.
From here.
I have problems as I stated befroe with the legalization of illegal immigrants. For those that are here in the States illegally, moving the offense to a felony sounds good to me. Additionally, I have no problem with the idea of employing an illegal immigrant becoming a felony either. However, I am more than willing to liberalize the immigration laws. I am more than aware of the SERIOUS pita that dealing with US Immigration Services (or whatever they're calling themselves this month) is.
Additionally, I am more than willing to get into a discussion of the annexation of Mexico to the US. I think that would solve most of problems outright if it was done on the same pattern as was done with Texas: between peers and willingly. 31 nuevo states and 106,202,903 new voters would have quite a say and I think it'd be a net positive one. For that matter annexing (a willingly) Canda (producing ten new states) and the Central American countries (producing another 7 states) sounds moy bueno to me too.
Then again, I also realize all that is a pipe dream.
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