Elvira Digs Herself a Deeper Hole
"The United States is the one who broke the law first. By letting people cross over without documents. By letting people taxes. For me it has been very hard. But I know I am not alone." -- Elvira Arellano
Oh, Elvira, where to begin? The U.S. didn't break the law, you did. The government, to be sure, failed to enforce the law, but that doesn't absolve you of violating it, repeatedly. And as someone calling for liberalized immigration policies, it's illogical, to say the least, for you to denounce the U.S. for not doing more to keep you out of the country in the first place.
But as long as you're speaking before the Mexican Congress, perhaps you ought to denounce the corruption and backward economic policies that make Mexico unlivable for millions of its residents who must flee north to find a decent life. That, much more than the failures of America's undeniably flawed immigration system, is the real root cause of the plight of Mexican illegal immigrants.
Finally, as I tell my kids every day, "He did it first!" -- even if it's true -- is no excuse.
Mr. Weinkopf,
You have hit the nail right on its head...corruption is the problem with many of the Latin-American governments.
However, in your deliberate conservative bias, you fail to mention that many - dare I say, most - of those governments receive the support of the United States government in one form or another.
We sign economic treaties with them, we look the other way when we hear of human rights violations - except of course, when such governments show leftist tendencies.
Many of the critics of immigration reform avoid talking about the fact that illegal immigration in the United States is the by-product of this nation's backward foreign policy.
Wow, the Great Mind-Reading Timmy can now tell us about my "deliberate conservative bias!" All hail Timmy!
Come on, man, does everything have to boil down to the binary left-right split? I was advising Elvira on what she should say to the Mexican Congress, instead of the drivel she spouted. Would you rather that I added, "And by the way, if you ever speak before the US Congress, you should also condemn America for supporting your own government, which you yourself refuse to condemn"?
And if you think I'm a "critic of immigration reform," you're badly mistaken. Not everything fits into the left-right binary.
I am glad you've become acquainted with sarcasm, and no, I'm not a mind reader. I'm just a reader and that's all it takes to realize the nature of your bias.
As for your remark about condemning the U.S. Government over their "help" to corrupt countries, you are not really helping...well, perhaps you're helping the rich bureaucrats fill up their pockets with green bills, but the average working person doesn't get a dime out of it...
What what are they left to do?
Voting doesn't work as fraud is rampant. A military revolution? Nope, that doesn't work either as the US tends to fund Armies throughout Latin America (Nicaragua, El Salvador). Migrating? Nope, you don't like that either...