MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.
The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Activists south of border have called for a boycott of all U.S. businesses on Monday in support of the protests.
Mexicans living in the United States sent back home about $20 billion in remittances last year.[/b]
President Vicente Fox has lobbied relentlessly for an immigration reform in the United States. However, his administration has held back from getting involved the immigrant protests, saying it does not want to violate U.S. sovereignty.
I know legal immigrants who marched because 1) they have family who are in danger of being deported (because they didn't come over legally) and 2) because these issues affect all immigrants, legal or otherwise. It could be the beginning of a very slippery slope.
When I was a kid, I worked (illegally!) for a friend of my dad's. From 13 to 16, I worked for an ice delivery company in Texas; we'd pick up our ice at a plant nearby. Every summer, a few illegals would come over from Mexico, live 3-up in a tiny apartment behind the plant, and work their asses off all summer. Same three guys every year. We thought, "Man, they must be poor as hell to come here every summer to do this job" because we knew it didn't pay that much. Come to find out, one of the guys owned a hacienda back in Mexico and was fairly well off--by Mexican standards. Yet he still risked his life crossing the border every year because he could make more money working for 3 months here.
Don't get it twisted: working at the ice plant was no picnic, but it also wasn't like Alaskan crab fishing. My point is that very few Americans have ANY concept of what it's like to be poor on a 3rd world level. Dudes are crossing over to the States--usually under incredibly dangerous circumstances--to work for minimum wage or less because it's still a lot better than the work they can get back home. And I have nothing but respect for them.
these issues affect all immigrants, legal or otherwise.
Disagree 100%.
These issues most definitely do not affect legal immigrants. People who come here legally and follow immigration protocol have no risk of being deported and are not breaking the law.
If someone has family members that are here illegally, well, then yes they would be affected on an emotional level, but we're talking about laws here.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.
The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Activists south of border have called for a boycott of all U.S. businesses on Monday in support of the protests.
Mexicans living in the United States sent back home about $20 billion in remittances last year.[/b]
President Vicente Fox has lobbied relentlessly for an immigration reform in the United States. However, his administration has held back from getting involved the immigrant protests, saying it does not want to violate U.S. sovereignty.
If someone has family members that are here illegally, well, then yes they would be affected on an emotional level, but we're talking about laws here.
Yes, laws which have deliberately not been enforced. I would bet that half of Congress has an illegal immigrant taking care of their kids or mowing their lawns. We want to enforce the law now that Bush has sent our economy into the shitter and low-income jobs are more desirable for Americans.
So now after years of using illegals like paid slaves, we suddenly want to start enforcing immigration? Ok. But are you seriously suggesting that we deport illegal immigrants who have US-born children because they "broke the law?" The US has dangled low-paying US jobs in front of Mexicans like they were racing ponies. How many millions of illegals are here? Give me a break.
these issues affect all immigrants, legal or otherwise.
Disagree 100%.
These issues most definitely do not affect legal immigrants. People who come here legally and follow immigration protocol have no risk of being deported and are not breaking the law.
If someone has family members that are here illegally, well, then yes they would be affected on an emotional level, but we're talking about laws here.
I don't want to argue with you to much. I believe that there are many good reasons to be concerned about illegal immigration, I'm not mad at you for being concerned.
The first round of sponteneous protest were a result of legislation that the congress passed. That legislation would make it a crime for anyone to help an illegal immigrant. There are already lots of laws making it a crime to smuggle immigrants across the boarder. There are also laws making it a crime to hire undocumented workers. This bill was aimed at making it a crime to provide food, water, clothing, medical care and shelter to illegal immigrants.
That is why church groups were in the forefront of the protests. Jeseus said to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the imprisioned.
If you are a charitable person who cares for the least among you, then this bill should scare you.
come from? I don't know if it is the second highest source, but it is a major source. Oil is the first source. Taxes are low (and improving the economic future of it's citizens is low on the goverments agenda) because the powerful in Mexico political and otherwise get enough money from oil to please themselves. Thus basic services like law enforcement are seriously underfunded. This leads to massive corruption at the lowest level of goverment.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.
The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Activists south of border have called for a boycott of all U.S. businesses on Monday in support of the protests.
Mexicans living in the United States sent back home about $20 billion in remittances last year.[/b]
President Vicente Fox has lobbied relentlessly for an immigration reform in the United States. However, his administration has held back from getting involved the immigrant protests, saying it does not want to violate U.S. sovereignty.
Remittances to Mexico Exceed Investment as Source of Income By Ginger Thompson The New York Times -- MEXICO CITY
Nearly one Mexican in five regularly gets money from relatives employed in the United States, making Mexico the largest repository of such remittances in the world, according to a poll sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The pollster, Sergio Bendixen, estimated that the payments help feed, house and educate at least a quarter of Mexico???s 100 million people.
The poll was part of a report on Monday by the bank, which said money sent home by all Mexican immigrants would soar to $14.5 billion this year, exceeding tourism and direct foreign investment to become this country???s second most important source of income. Oil remains No. 1.[/b]
Bendixen said the poll offered forceful evidence that remittances not only sustained this country???s rural poor but had also become important to urban working-class households.
Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, estimated that annual remittances to Mexico and Central America could reach $25 billion by the end of the decade, a vast sum made of countless tiny payments by America???s lowest paid workers.
???This is not necessarily something to celebrate,??? said Don Terry, manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund. ???It means that the Mexican economy is not expanding, and so people have had to leave.???
Indeed, in addition to showing a significant jump in remittances, the report opened a window onto the shifts in illegal immigration to the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the wake of the attacks, the United States almost immediately dispatched more staff members and machinery to bolster law enforcement operations on its border with Mexico, and it was believed that the heightened security would discourage immigrants from illegal crossing.
With fewer immigrants heading north, experts on both sides of the border predicted, remittances to Latin America would sharply decline. And the shrinking American economy was expected to force immigrants out of work, leaving them less money to send home.
Those forecasts, according to the Inter-American Development Bank and immigration experts, have proved wrong.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.
The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Activists south of border have called for a boycott of all U.S. businesses on Monday in support of the protests.
Mexicans living in the United States sent back home about $20 billion in remittances last year.[/b]
President Vicente Fox has lobbied relentlessly for an immigration reform in the United States. However, his administration has held back from getting involved the immigrant protests, saying it does not want to violate U.S. sovereignty.
Remittances to Mexico Exceed Investment as Source of Income By Ginger Thompson The New York Times -- MEXICO CITY
Nearly one Mexican in five regularly gets money from relatives employed in the United States, making Mexico the largest repository of such remittances in the world, according to a poll sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The pollster, Sergio Bendixen, estimated that the payments help feed, house and educate at least a quarter of Mexico???s 100 million people.
The poll was part of a report on Monday by the bank, which said money sent home by all Mexican immigrants would soar to $14.5 billion this year, exceeding tourism and direct foreign investment to become this country???s second most important source of income. Oil remains No. 1.[/b]
Bendixen said the poll offered forceful evidence that remittances not only sustained this country???s rural poor but had also become important to urban working-class households.
Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, estimated that annual remittances to Mexico and Central America could reach $25 billion by the end of the decade, a vast sum made of countless tiny payments by America???s lowest paid workers.
???This is not necessarily something to celebrate,??? said Don Terry, manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund. ???It means that the Mexican economy is not expanding, and so people have had to leave.???
Indeed, in addition to showing a significant jump in remittances, the report opened a window onto the shifts in illegal immigration to the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the wake of the attacks, the United States almost immediately dispatched more staff members and machinery to bolster law enforcement operations on its border with Mexico, and it was believed that the heightened security would discourage immigrants from illegal crossing.
With fewer immigrants heading north, experts on both sides of the border predicted, remittances to Latin America would sharply decline. And the shrinking American economy was expected to force immigrants out of work, leaving them less money to send home.
Those forecasts, according to the Inter-American Development Bank and immigration experts, have proved wrong.
Illegal immigration advocates perpetuate the outright fallacy that HR 4437 targets legal as well as illegal immigrants. They do this in order to scare and anger the population, and get people marching in the streets for their cause.
That is why church groups were in the forefront of the protests.
Disagree. I know I am going to sound like a callous S.O.B., even more than I might have already but..... Christian church membership is down across the board, across the country. Point blank, these churches are, for the most part, looking for bodies to fill the pews.
I'm going to bow out of this discussion. I've said what I've had to say and answered responses. It's a very emotional situation. Thanks for the conversation.
Illegal immigration advocates perpetuate the outright fallacy that HR 4437 targets legal as well as illegal immigrants. They do this in order to scare and anger the population, and get people marching in the streets for their cause.
That is why church groups were in the forefront of the protests.
Disagree. I know I am going to sound like a callous S.O.B., even more than I might have already but..... Christian church membership is down across the board, across the country. Point blank, these churches are, for the most part, looking for bodies to fill the pews.
I'm going to bow out of this discussion. I've said what I've had to say and answered responses. It's a very emotional situation. Thanks for the conversation.
I don't think you are a callus SOB. I think you are concerned for downtrodden Americans and see illegal immigration as a threat to Americans who have the least, which it is.
Comments
As do the many non-immigrants at the protests....
Here's the first one I found:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/04/28/mex.immig.ap/index.html
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican lawmakers issued a declaration of support for immigrant protests planned in the United States on Monday and said they will send a delegation to Los Angeles to show their solidarity.
The declaration, issued late Thursday by all the political parties in the lower house of Congress, contrasts with the position of Mexico's Foreign Department, which has said it will discipline any consular officials who take part in the protests.
The delegation of lawmakers will meet with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, it said in a news release from Congress.
"The only thing we are looking for is to end this dehumanizing situation and get the recognition of the migrant labor force," Federal Deputy Maria Garcia said. "People who go looking for work should not be treated like criminals with the risk of being tried in federal courts."
Activists are urging immigrants across the United States to skip work, avoid spending money and march in the streets to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy.
The protest, dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants," comes as the U.S. Congress debates immigration bills proposing everything from toughened border security to the legalization of all 11 million undocumented migrants in America.
Activists south of border have called for a boycott of all U.S. businesses on Monday in support of the protests.
Mexicans living in the United States sent back home about $20 billion in remittances last year.[/b]
President Vicente Fox has lobbied relentlessly for an immigration reform in the United States. However, his administration has held back from getting involved the immigrant protests, saying it does not want to violate U.S. sovereignty.
Point taken.
Wrong. Ridiculously wrong.
I know legal immigrants who marched because 1) they have family who are in danger of being deported (because they didn't come over legally) and 2) because these issues affect all immigrants, legal or otherwise. It could be the beginning of a very slippery slope.
When I was a kid, I worked (illegally!) for a friend of my dad's. From 13 to 16, I worked for an ice delivery company in Texas; we'd pick up our ice at a plant nearby. Every summer, a few illegals would come over from Mexico, live 3-up in a tiny apartment behind the plant, and work their asses off all summer. Same three guys every year. We thought, "Man, they must be poor as hell to come here every summer to do this job" because we knew it didn't pay that much. Come to find out, one of the guys owned a hacienda back in Mexico and was fairly well off--by Mexican standards. Yet he still risked his life crossing the border every year because he could make more money working for 3 months here.
Don't get it twisted: working at the ice plant was no picnic, but it also wasn't like Alaskan crab fishing. My point is that very few Americans have ANY concept of what it's like to be poor on a 3rd world level. Dudes are crossing over to the States--usually under incredibly dangerous circumstances--to work for minimum wage or less because it's still a lot better than the work they can get back home. And I have nothing but respect for them.
Disagree 100%.
These issues most definitely do not affect legal immigrants. People who come here legally and follow immigration protocol have no risk of being deported and are not breaking the law.
If someone has family members that are here illegally, well, then yes they would be affected on an emotional level, but we're talking about laws here.
Where did this part
come from?
Yes, laws which have deliberately not been enforced. I would bet that half of Congress has an illegal immigrant taking care of their kids or mowing their lawns. We want to enforce the law now that Bush has sent our economy into the shitter and low-income jobs are more desirable for Americans.
So now after years of using illegals like paid slaves, we suddenly want to start enforcing immigration? Ok. But are you seriously suggesting that we deport illegal immigrants who have US-born children because they "broke the law?" The US has dangled low-paying US jobs in front of Mexicans like they were racing ponies. How many millions of illegals are here? Give me a break.
I don't want to argue with you to much. I believe that there are many good reasons to be concerned about illegal immigration, I'm not mad at you for being concerned.
The first round of sponteneous protest were a result of legislation that the congress passed. That legislation would make it a crime for anyone to help an illegal immigrant. There are already lots of laws making it a crime to smuggle immigrants across the boarder. There are also laws making it a crime to hire undocumented workers. This bill was aimed at making it a crime to provide food, water, clothing, medical care and shelter to illegal immigrants.
That is why church groups were in the forefront of the protests. Jeseus said to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the imprisioned.
If you are a charitable person who cares for the least among you, then this bill should scare you.
come from?
I don't know if it is the second highest source, but it is a major source. Oil is the first source. Taxes are low (and improving the economic future of it's citizens is low on the goverments agenda) because the powerful in Mexico political and otherwise get enough money from oil to please themselves. Thus basic services like law enforcement are seriously underfunded. This leads to massive corruption at the lowest level of goverment.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V123/N52/long2_52.52w.html
Remittances to Mexico Exceed Investment as Source of Income
By Ginger Thompson
The New York Times -- MEXICO CITY
Nearly one Mexican in five regularly gets money from relatives employed in the United States, making Mexico the largest repository of such remittances in the world, according to a poll sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The pollster, Sergio Bendixen, estimated that the payments help feed, house and educate at least a quarter of Mexico???s 100 million people.
The poll was part of a report on Monday by the bank, which said money sent home by all Mexican immigrants would soar to $14.5 billion this year, exceeding tourism and direct foreign investment to become this country???s second most important source of income. Oil remains No. 1.[/b]
Bendixen said the poll offered forceful evidence that remittances not only sustained this country???s rural poor but had also become important to urban working-class households.
Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, estimated that annual remittances to Mexico and Central America could reach $25 billion by the end of the decade, a vast sum made of countless tiny payments by America???s lowest paid workers.
???This is not necessarily something to celebrate,??? said Don Terry, manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund. ???It means that the Mexican economy is not expanding, and so people have had to leave.???
Indeed, in addition to showing a significant jump in remittances, the report opened a window onto the shifts in illegal immigration to the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In the wake of the attacks, the United States almost immediately dispatched more staff members and machinery to bolster law enforcement operations on its border with Mexico, and it was believed that the heightened security would discourage immigrants from illegal crossing.
With fewer immigrants heading north, experts on both sides of the border predicted, remittances to Latin America would sharply decline. And the shrinking American economy was expected to force immigrants out of work, leaving them less money to send home.
Those forecasts, according to the Inter-American Development Bank and immigration experts, have proved wrong.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This story was published on Tuesday, October 28, 2003.
Volume 123, Number 52
Cool. Thanks.
That was not the primary purpose. I encourage you to read the bill for yourself:
http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/immbillsection.pdf
Illegal immigration advocates perpetuate the outright fallacy that HR 4437 targets legal as well as illegal immigrants. They do this in order to scare and anger the population, and get people marching in the streets for their cause.
Disagree. I know I am going to sound like a callous S.O.B., even more than I might have already but..... Christian church membership is down across the board, across the country. Point blank, these churches are, for the most part, looking for bodies to fill the pews.
I'm going to bow out of this discussion. I've said what I've had to say and answered responses. It's a very emotional situation. Thanks for the conversation.
I don't think you are a callus SOB. I think you are concerned for downtrodden Americans and see illegal immigration as a threat to Americans who have the least, which it is.