I don’t like Reuben Navarette’s smug tone, as evidenced by his labeling open borders opponents as “small-minded conservatives” and “hardliners.” Conservatives are the backbone of the Republican party and no Republican can be elected president without us. It may be hard for Latin Americans to believe that there are Americans who have a deep committment to the rule of law and whose opposition to uncontrolled immigration is based on a principle other than prejudice against foreigners. But this is a failure of Latin American culture, not of ours. Calling names is not going to bring us any closer together.
As Valerie’s post implicitly points out, the problem with “comprehensive” proposals for immigration reform is that they are not comprehensive enough. As most of the illegals are Mexicans, truly comprehensive reform requires the participation of the Mexican government and people. Mexico has evidently failed to build a society and economy which can support its own people. What are these failures? How can they be remedied? How can Mexico create an economy which offers sufficient growth and opportunity for its own people to move out of poverty within Mexico? Failure to provide for your own people is a national shame. Or are Mexican elites content to dump their poverty over their northern border in open defiance of our laws while they enforce their own restrictive immigration laws?
Mexico has tremendous natural resources and an industrious and creative people. There is no good reason why the Mexican people should be any less prosperous than their American neighbors. But Mexico is also rife with political corruption and violence driven by an uncontrolled drug trade. A new vision for Mexico, not just throwing open America’s southern border, is necessary for comprehensive immigration reform.
