Immigration Debate Heats Up

The president’s decision to deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to the border is more of reactive political move then one based in sound policy. This action is more in response to the passage of Arizona’s immigration reform legislation that was recently past.

The real issue here, one that is rarely mentioned is what is Mexico doing about the flight of its own citizens heading north for a better life. Mexican President Felipe Caldron on a state visit to the United States this month chastised the U.S. regarding passage of the Arizona law and his perceived treatment of Mexican citizens heading to the United States.

President Obama stood silent as the Mexican president lambasted the U.S. over its handling of immigration. The president just stood there and said nothing about the failure of the Mexican government to create opportunities for his own people in Mexico.

Missing was the treatment of anyone who tries to enter Mexico without identification is far more sever then would be received if one enters the United States.

Currently there is no impetus for Mexico to stop the flow of immigrants to the United States, for them it’s a steady source of revenue. After oil, money that flows back from immigrants in the United States is the second largest revenue source for the Mexican government. Why would they want to stop this revenue stream?

There is a need for immigration reform, but before any comprehensive immigration reform measure is debated, their needs to be a structured policy on what Mexico will do to stem the flow of immigrants north. Without this we will only revisit this again, just like the last Immigration Reform measure passed in 1986. The 1986 reform measure was supposed to fix the problem; well we see how that worked!