Mexico Is Gonna Sue Us.

[WabUfvot5]

Wait, if there is a lawsuit who is going to pay for the translators? Gotta say I agree with Mari. It wouldn't stop them all but until there is a good reason for them to come through legally the problem will persist. Doesn't sound like ANYBODY is happy with Bush's plan either.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

They're getting billions of dollars a year sent to them by the illegals here...you don't expect them to give that up without a fight, do you?

Of course not. They took the Alamo; then, they lost the Alamo. I expect history to repeat itself at new level. If Mexicans could fight, they would have something more recent to celebrate than Cinco de Mayo. My sympathy goes out to the US casualties of the battles; but, I'm confident we will win the undeclared war on illegals. It simply isn't going to happen under this administration. It might not even have been an issue with this administration if we could still afford to support the illegals; but, we no longer can. We've blown too many of our resources on botched wars.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by fargon

On Fox News today, I have been hearing...

"Well, there's your problem right there!"

I've been searching for news on this supposed lawsuit and managed to find this goldmine of information in a Fox News article. (Really, try reading this article and see if it makes any sense to you. Mexican lawsuit! More buzzards than people! Texas speed limit shocks people from the east coast! What the hell was Hill smoking when she wrote this? They call this news?)

Well, I did manage to find this, too.

Jim Kouri, a security expert and staff writer for TheRealityCheck.org, warned in a column that the Bush administration could face a federal lawsuit over its plan to use National Guard troops to supplement Border Patrol agents.

So therealitycheck.org is where this rumor is coming from? Someone from this slightly slanted website is suggesting that Mexico could file a lawsuit? Can we get some more information than that? Ah, here we go:

"A representative from Mexican President Vicente Fox claims that if the U.S. National Guard troops detain illegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the Fox government will file a lawsuit against the Bush Administration in U.S. federal court," Kouri wrote. "There are some political observers who believe that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is preparing to assist the Mexican government in such a lawsuit."

Really? Can we get a name of that representative? A quote, maybe? Whatever.

The ACLU, as I understand it, is simply trying to keep the administration in check for violating the posse comitatus act for not getting congressional approval, not file a lawsuit on behalf of Mexico. But, hey, it isn't as if there isn't precedent for the president bypassing congress on anything, lately...

[Ibby]

Okay, fine. Mexico sues us. The judge takes one look at the case and throws it out of court. Everyone goes home. The end.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Ibram

Okay, fine. Mexico sues us. The judge takes one look at the case and throws it out of court. Everyone goes home. The end.

Depends where it's heard and by whom. I couldn't swear to you that there isn't a judge somewhere who wouldn't listen to arguments that commitatus applies, or that the illegals are entitled to only have to go up against the unassisted Border Patrol or some such nonsense....especially given some of the whiney "they've earned the right to be citizens by sucessufully flouting the law for so long" arguments offered in all apparent seriousness by some in this debate.

The little thing that everyone forgets is that most of our national guard units are being kept busy in a place caled Iraq. Once again, the New Mexico governor said that it would take 6,000 guard members just to patrol the border of Mexico/New Mexico alone. New Mexico currently has 70 guard members who are are working down at the border. The other guardsmen are engaged elsewhere. Right now the entire thing is a moot point.

[MaggieL]

I agree it's unlikely to have much impact. To my mind the significance of this story is that Mexico actually feels entitled to sue over it.

[Elspode]

Why can't we just move toward securing our borders and enforcing the laws that we already have?

*Anything* the US does is racist, or imperialist, or wrong somehow unless we are kowtowing and pandering to everyone else. We have a right to police our borders. People who are legally entitled to go back and forth will do so. People who aren't, won't. Anyone ever tried to get into Mexico illegally? Are they pretty much cool with that?

And playing the race card is just wrong. How is this racist? How is it wrong to enforce immigration laws, especially those which are the least restrictive in the world anyway? How in the world can anyone make a legal case against securing your own borders?

Patrick, it FEELS racist to me when 6% of illegals come from Canada, yet no vigilantes are patroling the Canadian border the way they are the Mexican one. It FEELS racist to me when during the depression era, there was a "repatration" act that rounded up AMERICANS born in the US of Mexican ancestry and illegally sent them "back" to Mexico.

It FEELS racist to me when the legal authorities go after the Mexican illegals but not the upper/middle class executives of US hotel chains and agribusiness who illegally hire these workers knowing full well that they have no green cards.

I have a friend I have mentioned before - he a Mohican Indian who grew up in Canada, has dual US/Canadian citizenship and served in the US military for 7 years. He tells me that every time he goes home, he had no problem with the CANADIAN officials at the border, it is the AMERICAN officals on his return trip that make his crossing miserable. He drives a high end sports car. Last crossing back to the US, the US border officials stopped him and said, "That sure looks like an expensive car. How'd you get it?" "I bought it" my friend replied. "We'll need to do some checking" was the response. My friend waited 5 hours while they desperately tried to prove his was a stolen car. Finally, they had to concede that the car appeared to be legally his and he was allowed back into the US. This FEELS racist to me.

Take a look at the following web site and tell me if the whole thing doesn't FEEL racist to you.

[MaggieL]

I'm sure glad we don't run the legal system based on "feelings". Just possibly some of the difference between how things "feel" at the two borders has to do with the ways that they are and are not abused or violated. If only 6% of th eillegals are coning through from the north, I can certainly understand why the focus is on the 94% coming though from the south.

Attributing that to "racism" seems disingenuous, y'know? It "feels" that way to me, anyway...

[MaggieL]

Oh...by the way...the high-end Mohican sports car? Where was it registered? Can we assume your friend had the registration papers for it? Five hours to check the ownership of a US- or Canadian-registered vehicle certainly seems excessive; one has to wonder if there aren't some unusual circumstances involved.

Just a "feeling"...

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

I'm sure glad we don't run the legal system based on "feelings".

Could have fooled me. The sudden demand for new laws that comes from the American public seems to be based entirely on a newly fueled passion for a problem that has existed for years but only recently hyped up by distraction-oriented politics.

I don't think this was sparked by racism, mind you, but it is undoubtedly an element today.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

Could have fooled me. The sudden demand for new laws that comes from the American public seems to be based entirely on a newly fueled passion for a problem that has existed for years but only recently hyped up by distraction-oriented politics..

Well, that's your feeling. :-)

If you think this is a new issue, consider the possibility that it's only new to you.

Perceptions on many matters is heavily colored by what elements of the culture you interact with, and if you spend a lot of time with people and media where anything negative about hispanics is silenced with the cry of "RACISM!", it might take a while for concern about the issue to filter through the self-censorship.

Also, not every concern that isn't on your personal political agenda qualifies as a "distraction".

[Stormieweather]

Actually, according to a long-haul trucker friend who travels to the 49 contiguous states and Canada, the border between Canada and the US was tightened drastically following the 9/11 attacks. Whereas he was formerly able to quickly and easily pass both ways, the crossing is much tighter now. After 9/11, there was some speculation (now believed to be false) that some of the bombers slipped into the US from Canada because the border is so unguarded.

My trucker friend had to obtain a special ID card which involved a full background check so that he didn't spend hours at the border coming back into the US (the program is called F.A.S.T. - Free And Secure Trade). For a while there, before he got his card, it was ridiculous as he would sometimes cross back and forth several times a day. I listened to long cell phone rants about it .

The possibility even exists that passports or special ID cards will be required of everyone as of 2008 in order to visit either country. http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jh...s/domesticNews



Stormie

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Perceptions on many matters is heavily colored by what elements of the culture you interact with, and if you spend a lot of time with people and media where anything negative about hispanics is silenced with the cry of "RACISM!", it might take a while for concern about the issue to filter through the self-censorship.

Or, it could be that I don't watch sensationlist 24-hour news programs or listen to AM radio talk shows enough to be as informed as the guy that had "deport these mexican invaders NOW!" lettered on the back of his pickup truck.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Also, not every concern that isn't on your personal political agenda qualifies as a "distraction".

Of course they aren't. This now highly emotional topic would never have been suddenly introduced to the American public as the #1 priority on the congressional agenda to take our attention away from middle eastern security issues or plummeting presidential approval ratings in order to give some republic party members some distance from their failings of their head man. It is important that we pay attention to this now. Not in 1998, not in 2000, and not even in 2001 when border security was a major issue following terrorist attacks. Illegal immigration is a priority in 2006, just because!