MEXICO CITY (By Chris Hawley, Arizona
Republic) June 13, 2005 - Mexican officials sense an ideological war brewing
in the United States over illegal immigration, one they hope eventually will
force U.S. lawmakers to take action on immigration reform, a high-ranking
Mexican diplomat said.
Proposition 200, plans for an expanded border wall near San Diego, terrorism fears, the Minuteman Project and other developments in the past year have combined to put immigration in the spotlight like never before, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's assistant foreign secretary for North American affairs, said in an interview with the The Arizona Republic.
"What I think we are seeing is the first part, or you can call it a battle, the first battle in the immigration debate," Gutiérrez said.
"There is so much attention in the public debate in both countries on this issue, that sooner or later it will force both countries to establish those new (immigration) mechanisms."
Gutiérrez spoke to The Republic last week at his office in the Foreign Ministry's airy annex building in central Mexico City. A former congressional adviser and administrator in the Economy Department, he is Mexico's point main on U.S. affairs.
He offered cautious praise for an immigration reform plan backed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., but said the Mexican government was mostly staying clear of the U.S. congressional debate on the bill.
He called parts of the proposal "very general," but would not say what the Mexican government would like to see included. Migrant advocates have called for a broader amnesty and lower fines for illegal immigrants.
President Vicente Fox's administration has hired no lobbyists to press for the bill, Gutiérrez said.
As for Mexico's efforts to stop illegal migration, officials are trying to develop a program to help repatriated migrants find jobs along the border, to keep them from trying to cross again, Gutiérrez said.
He criticized measures like Arizona's Proposition 200 as unconstructive. That law, passed by referendum last November, requires people to prove their citizenship when registering to vote and bars undocumented migrants from receiving certain state benefits.
Mexico has offered moral support to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, which has challenged Proposition 200 in court. But it has given no money to the effort because of fears it would be seen as interfering in the United States' domestic affairs, Gutiérrez said.
"It's not necessarily wise for (MALDEF) to have the financial backing of the Mexican government," he said.
Gutiérrez also said Mexico is trying to address one of the United States' biggest concerns: drug violence along the border.
In April, the U.S. State Department said that more than 30 Americans had been killed or kidnapped since August in the city of Nuevo Laredo alone.
Last Wednesday, the city's new police chief was gunned down just hours after being sworn into office, prompting U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza to warn of a "rapidly degenerating situation along the border" and "near-lawlessness in some parts."
Gutiérrez said Mexico and the United States need to work more closely on law-enforcement issues along the border, "because in many instances it is really organized, transnational crime organizations that are involved."
He also said that Mexican officials have not been able to corroborate the number of American deaths claimed by the State Department.
Proposition 200, plans for an expanded border wall near San Diego, terrorism fears, the Minuteman Project and other developments in the past year have combined to put immigration in the spotlight like never before, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's assistant foreign secretary for North American affairs, said in an interview with the The Arizona Republic.
"What I think we are seeing is the first part, or you can call it a battle, the first battle in the immigration debate," Gutiérrez said.
"There is so much attention in the public debate in both countries on this issue, that sooner or later it will force both countries to establish those new (immigration) mechanisms."
Gutiérrez spoke to The Republic last week at his office in the Foreign Ministry's airy annex building in central Mexico City. A former congressional adviser and administrator in the Economy Department, he is Mexico's point main on U.S. affairs.
He offered cautious praise for an immigration reform plan backed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., but said the Mexican government was mostly staying clear of the U.S. congressional debate on the bill.
He called parts of the proposal "very general," but would not say what the Mexican government would like to see included. Migrant advocates have called for a broader amnesty and lower fines for illegal immigrants.
President Vicente Fox's administration has hired no lobbyists to press for the bill, Gutiérrez said.
As for Mexico's efforts to stop illegal migration, officials are trying to develop a program to help repatriated migrants find jobs along the border, to keep them from trying to cross again, Gutiérrez said.
He criticized measures like Arizona's Proposition 200 as unconstructive. That law, passed by referendum last November, requires people to prove their citizenship when registering to vote and bars undocumented migrants from receiving certain state benefits.
Mexico has offered moral support to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, which has challenged Proposition 200 in court. But it has given no money to the effort because of fears it would be seen as interfering in the United States' domestic affairs, Gutiérrez said.
"It's not necessarily wise for (MALDEF) to have the financial backing of the Mexican government," he said.
Gutiérrez also said Mexico is trying to address one of the United States' biggest concerns: drug violence along the border.
In April, the U.S. State Department said that more than 30 Americans had been killed or kidnapped since August in the city of Nuevo Laredo alone.
Last Wednesday, the city's new police chief was gunned down just hours after being sworn into office, prompting U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza to warn of a "rapidly degenerating situation along the border" and "near-lawlessness in some parts."
Gutiérrez said Mexico and the United States need to work more closely on law-enforcement issues along the border, "because in many instances it is really organized, transnational crime organizations that are involved."
He also said that Mexican officials have not been able to corroborate the number of American deaths claimed by the State Department.
