The View From Abroad

IMMIGRATION

May 25, 2010

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid Jilani, Andrea Nill, and Alex Seitz-Wald

Last week, before a joint session of Congress, Mexican President Felipe Calderón slammed Arizona's new immigration law, SB-1070. "I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona," said Calderón. "It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree, but also introduced a terrible idea using racial profiling for law enforcement." Following Calderón's address, conservative lawmakers have been blasting him for "meddling" in U.S. politics. "It's about us. It's about our citizenry," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "I just think that's a line I would prefer that he did not cross. He went farther than I'm comfortable with," stated Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). A statement released by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) read, "It's unfortunate and disappointing the president of Mexico chose to criticize the state of Arizona by weighing in on a U.S. domestic policy issue during a trip that was meant to reaffirm the unique relationship between our two countries." In defense of Calderón, ABC News veteran journalist Sam Donaldson pointed out this weekend that American presidents have frequently criticized the policies of foreign nations. "President Calderón represents Mexico, and he said what a lot of Americans are also saying, that that Arizona law is discriminatory and that it ought not to have been on the books," he said.

INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM: Calderón isn't the first international figure to voice his concerns over the law. In fact, he joins a loud chorus of global leaders who have criticized SB-1070. In Central America, the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, the new government of Honduras, and officials from El Salvador and Nicaragua have all expressed grave concerns about the law. The Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) also expressed "the concern of the OAS, its Secretary General, the countries of the hemisphere and the Latin American community with the passage of a law in a state of the United States that we consider to be discriminatory against immigrants, and in particular against a population of such origin that lives in this country." Heads of state and foreign ministers of the 12-member Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) slammed SB-1070, stating that it encourages "discretional detention of people based on racial, ethnic, phenotypic, language and migratory status reasons under the questionable concept of 'reasonable doubt.'" South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu wrote in a blog post that a solution that "degrades innocent people, or that makes anyone with broken English a suspect, is not a solution." United Nations experts who reviewed the law stated that SB-1070 could violate international standards that are binding in the United States. Amnesty International agreed, identifying the law as being in violation of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and calling it "cruel and misguided."

LESSONS FROM MEXICO: Before Calderón's visit, the Washington Times erroneously reported that "under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison." The Washington Times then quoted Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) calling Calderón "arrogant and hypocritical" -- a right-wing talking point repeated throughout the week. However, during his visit, Calderón pointed out that Mexico overturned the provisions cited by the Washington Times. A couple years ago, "[s]ome Mexican officials acknowledged that the current harsh penalties weakened Mexico's position in arguing for better treatment of its own migrants in the United States." In 2008, the Mexican Congress voted unanimously with 393 votes to decriminalize undocumented immigration to Mexico and make it a minor offense. However, it's worth noting that Mexican immigration reform is still a work in progress. Amnesty International recently issued a report calling the "widespread abuse of migrants in Mexico" a "human rights crisis." Tens of thousands of Central American migrants face "alarming levels" of abuse ranging from abduction to robbery and rape. One of the central issues, according to Amnesty, is that migrants still fear they will be deported if they complain to Mexican authorities about abuses. Article 67 of Mexico's immigration law requires law enforcement to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country. The Mexican Interior Department is reportedly working to repeal Article 67 "so that no one can deny or restrict foreigners' access to justice and human rights, whatever their migratory status." In the meantime, the U.S. would be wise to look at Mexico's immigration problems not as a source of hypocrisy, but rather, an extreme but telling lesson on what can happen when the law turns police into immigration agents and immigrants into criminals.

A CALL FOR REFORM: Standing before Congress, Calderón stated, "I am convinced that a comprehensive immigration reform is also crucial to securing our common border." "The time has come to reduce the causes of migration and to turn this phenomenon into a legal, order and secure flows of workers and visitors," stated Calderón. In a less controversial visit, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom also recently came to the U.S. with "the need to implement an integrated federal immigration reform" high on his list of priorities. Despite the criticisms hurled, it turns out that the majority of the American people agree with Calderón and Colom. Ruy Teixeira of the Center for American Progress wrote yesterday that the "public's continued support for comprehensive immigration reform is being shunted to the side amid all the fuss about Arizona's draconian new law." Granted, polls show that the majority of Arizonans and Americans as a whole support SB-1070. Yet, support for Arizona's immigration law is a manifestation of the public's widespread frustration with the federal government's inaction on the issue. More polling shows that 57 percent of all Americans believe immigration laws should be set by the federal government and 64 percent support some sort of legal status for undocumented immigrants already living in the country. In a joint press conference with Calderón, President Obama made clear that the "political challenge" that's standing in the way of wanted federal action is the lack of Republican support for immigration reform. "I don't have 60 votes in the Senate. I've got to have some support from Republicans." Just a couple hours earlier, while visiting a local elementary school with Mexico's First Lady Margarita Zavala, First Lady Michelle Obama put the issue in poignantly simpler terms: When pressed by a brave second-grader on whether the President was going to deport her mother for not having papers, Obama replied, "Well, we have to work on that. We have to fix that, and everybody's got to work together in Congress to make sure that happens."