Catering To Mexico On Immigration

In the increasingly heated battle against illegal immigration, it is ironic that U.S. officials seem most concerned with appeasing Mexico rather than their own citizens, who overwhelmingly support controlling the situation.

The latest evidence is in President George W. Bush’s urgent apology to his Mexican counterpart regarding the deployment of National Guard troops along the nation’s southern border. Bush immediately reassured Vicente Fox that Mexico is a friend and the move is temporary and does not amount to militarization of the border.

Two other major incidents help illustrate just how much the U.S. is catering to Mexico regarding illegal immigration. Just last week, a Southern California newspaper reported that the U.S. Government regularly informs Mexican officials where Minuteman civilian patrols are stationed along the U.S.-Mexican border. The Mexican government’s secretary of foreign relations even has a web site that brags about how the U.S. Border Patrol notifies the Mexican government as to the location of civilian border patrol groups. U.S. officials admit it is true.

In January the same newspaper published a map and chart, along with a lengthy article detailing incursions by Mexican military and police into the United States. The violent incidents of armed confrontations feature U.S. citizens and law enforcement under fire by uniformed Mexicans. More than 200 of these dangerous Mexican military invasions have occurred in the last nine years to help drugs and human smugglers cross into the U.S. safely, yet officials continue to dismiss the incidents.

In fact, after this year’s widely reported incursion at the Texas-Mexico border, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that the reports of Mexican soldiers frequently crossing onto U.S. soil were overblown. When a media outlet provided evidence of the most recent incursion, Chertoff said that many of them are innocent mistakes.

U.S. Border Patrol statistics speak for themselves. The El Centro sector, which covers southeastern California, recorded 58 incursions since 1996, followed by Tucson, Arizona (39), El Paso, Texas (33) and McAllen, Texas (28).

Desert Invasion makes an interesting point in saying that the most powerful nation on earth lacks the political will to protect its own borders. A Certain Slant of Light asks a great question; isn’t it about time America holds Mexico accountable?