Arizona's Illegal Immigration Law

In all the hullabaloo over the recent laws enacted in Arizona regarding illegal aliens, perhaps it is necessary to examine the attitudes and laws existing in Mexico for foreigners entering their nation.

Currently Mexicans, legal and illegal, are being joined by the ACLU, Al Sharpton and all Liberals to denounce Arizona's new laws. When considering the following, the hypocrisy becomes evident. However, I will leave it up to you and your logic to see the truth. The fact is that the US Government, past and present, has failed miserably to enforce existing laws regarding illegal aliens and immigration. Compounded 'wrongs' do not make the reasoning on amnesty 'right'.

Let's look at the laws of Mexico.

1. The Mexican government will bar foreigners if they upset "the equilibrium of the national demographics." Isn't that racial and ethnic profiling?

2. If outsiders do not contribute or enhance the country's "economic or national interests" or are "not found to be physically or mentally healthy," they are not welcome. Neither are those who show "contempt against national sovereignty and/or security." They must not be an economic burden on society and must have clean criminal records.

3. Those seeking Mexican citizenship must show a birth certificate, provide a bank statement showing economic independence, pass an exam and show confirmed evidence that they can provide their own health care.
4. Illegal entry into the country is equivalent to a felony punishable by two years' imprisonment. Document fraud is subject to fine and imprisonment. Evading deportation is a serious crime; illegal re-entry after deportation is punishable by 10 years' imprisonment. Anyone who has experienced Mexican incarceration tells of dire conditions and experience beyond comprehension. You don't want to go there.

5. Foreigners may be expelled from the country without due process and without the possibility of litigation.

6. Officials at all levels must cooperate to enforce immigration laws, including illegal alien arrests and deportations. The Mexican military is required to assist in immigration enforcement. Native-born Mexicans are authorized and encouraged to make citizen's arrests of illegal aliens.

7. Mexico's National Catalog of Foreigners tracks all outside tourists and foreign nationals. The National Population Registry tracks and verifies the identity of every member of the population, who must carry a citizen's identity card. Visitors who do not have proper documents and identification are subject to immediate arrest as illegal aliens.

All these provisions are contained in Mexico's Ley General de Poblacion (General Law of the Population). There's been no movements for "comprehensive immigration reform" in Mexico because pro-illegal-alien speech by outsiders is strictly prohibited.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has accused Arizona of "intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement." But, as listed above, Arizona has nothing on Mexico when it comes to cracking down on illegal aliens.

As the proponents of open borders and amnesty activists loudly protest new enforcement measures in Arizona, they stay deaf, dumb or blind to the strict policies of Mexico. It should be pointed out that, in this instance, Mexico is not much different from the attitudes toward immigration (legal and illegal) of virtually every other country in the world.

The Arizona law bans sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws, stiffens penalties against illegal alien day laborers and their employers, makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to carry an alien registration document and allows the police to arrest immigrants unable to show documents proving they're here legally.

If those rules constitute the racist, fascist, inhumane state that the National Council of La Raza, ACLU, Al Sharpton and Catholic bishops and their followers claim, what about the international rules and restrictions imposed on foreigners around the world?

Under the Mexican constitution, political speech by foreigners is banned. Noncitizens cannot "in any way participate in the political affairs of the country." In fact, a large number of Mexican statutes enacted by its congress limit the participation of foreign nationals and companies in everything from investment, education, mining and civil aviation to electric energy and firearms. Foreigners have severely limited private property and employment rights. Existing laws prohibit any non-Mexican from owning land within a considerable distance from the shore line of any body of water.

As for abuse, the Mexican government is notoriously famous for its abuse of Central American illegal aliens who attempt to violate Mexico's southern border. The Red Cross has protested wide spread Mexican police corruption, intimidation and bribery schemes aimed at illegal aliens there for years. Mexico did not respond by granting mass amnesty to illegal aliens, as it's demanding we do. Instead it tightened its borders even more.

Meanwhile, Mexican consular offices in the U.S. have coordinated with left-wing social justice groups and the ACLU and Catholic Church leadership to demand a moratorium on all deportations and a freeze on all employment raids across America.

Mexico is doing the job Arizona is now doing — a job the U.S. government has failed miserably to do: put its people first. Arizona has taken its sovereignty into its own hands.

Congress, in its flagrant pandering for votes, will attempt to circumvent the desires of the American people and grant amnesty. What a sorry lot they are. Led by Nancy Pelosi and her minions, they are giving away our nation and placing us deeper in debt. We become less safe by the day.

When will reason and sanity prevail?

DE