Mexican consul: "We're not demanding amnesty but immigration reform." (travel boycott)

A group of illegal immigration opponents including the California Coalition for Immigration Reform are passing out fliers encouraging tourists to visit the U.S. southwest instead of Mexico (link). More on the boycott below, but first:

[Orange County, CA] Mexican Consul Carlos Rodríguez y Quezada disputes the fliers' claims that Mexico urges amnesty, is violent and is a bad neighbor.

"We've always been good friends and good neighbors," he said. "We're not demanding amnesty but immigration reform."

1. Mexico isn't in the position to start "demanding" things, especially something that the vast majority of Americans would oppose if they were aware of all the issues involved.

2. Comprehensive immigration reform is just a euphemism for amnesty, and it would be seen as an amnesty by those Mexicans who are still living in that country, many of whom would come here in an attempt to take part in that or a future "reform".

3. From the U.S. perspective, Mexico hasn't been such a good neighbor. Most Mexicans would probably say the U.S. hasn't been such a good neighbor either. Perhaps we should keep both of those in mind going ahead.

As for the boycott, those quoted in the article are probably correct in that it probably won't be that effective. On the one hand, people should be encouraged to spend more time spending their vacation money in the U.S. And, it would certainly serve Mexico well to get less money from the U.S. On the other hand, we probably don't want one of Mexico's major sources of (legitimate) income to collapse, since it would cause more people to leave there illegally.

Sat, 03/21/2009 - 12:48 · · Importance: 4