September 29, 2006

Fence bill passes, Mexico threatens U.S. (again), will lobby (again)

The Senate has passed the border fence bill and it now goes to Bush for his possible signing. The bill includes an initial round of funding in the amount of $1.2 billion. While most Senators voted for it, worthies such as Dick Durbin (D-IL/MX) were opposed.

In related news, the government of Mexico threatened the U.S. yesterday:

...The [Mexico] Foreign Relations Department said it was "deeply worried" about the proposal, which is working its way through the Senate, adding it will "increase tension in border communities."

"These measures will harm the bilateral relationship. They are against the spirit of co-operation that is needed to guarantee security on the common border," the department said in a statement...

So, if we pass a fence bill, they can't guarantee there will be security on the border? Will they let terrorists or even more illegal aliens come through?

And, they also say they'll be conducting a lobbying effort inside the U.S.:

Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said if the legislation is approved, Mexico will send a letter strongly condemning the measure. Asked by a reporter if that meant the government would try to "dissuade" Bush from signing the bill into law, he replied, "Without a doubt."

...Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said that only comprehensive immigration reform would stop millions of Mexicans from sneaking across the border into the U.S...

Just because Teddy Kennedy probably said something similar in his rejection of the bill doesn't mean they're working together, only that they're both on the wrong side.

UPDATE: Oddly enough, RCP has linked to this post, despite me not even bothering to check whether or not Teddy Kennedy voted against it.

Frankly, this site doesn't oppose the fence, but it hasn't been a cheerleader for it because we realize that one of the root causes of illegal immigration (but not the only one) is political corruption and, if that were addressed, then enforcing our workplace and other laws wouldn't be that much of a problem. There's also the probability that the "cheap labor at any price" wing of the GOP - led in the blogosphere by persons such as "Captain Ed" and Insty - will hide behind the fence to push through "comprehensive" "reform". And, there's also the very strong probability that the fence will turn into a massive boondoggle for connected contractors. Overall, we feel that discrediting supporters of massive illegal or legal immigration will have a far more effective impact and we also feel that's a necessary pre-condition to avoid the situation becoming worse, with or without a fence. Discrediting them is easy; the only problem comes from finding a large enough megaphone.

New visitors might want to read my brief Intro to Illegal Immigration. For recent Democratic Party smears, try this or this. Democrats can read about Mike Huckabee or a George Bush-Chris Cannon two-fer. For the economics, try this, this, or this.

Posted to Immigration at September 29, 2006 10:14 PM

Comments

The cyberlobbying is more influential than the RC church handing out postcards to illiterates.
More powerful, though, is the republicans' fear of losing the Reagan democrats, who are patriotic, numerous and often quite opposed to mass illegal influxes.

Posted by: John S Bolton at September 30, 2006 01:15 AM

Interesting that Ted Kennedy didn't bother to vote.

Posted by: D Flinchum at September 30, 2006 05:39 AM

Any comprehensive immigration bill should be contingent upon Mexico reforming the economic system that forces its people to find jobs in the U.S. Everything currently seems to be unilateral with Mexico and our foolish president has no guts to say or do anything in defense of this country.

Posted by: George at September 30, 2006 07:52 AM