Regarding "Immigration Compromise Too Little Too Late"

Greetings Mr. Racheotes,

In response to your piece "Immigration Compromise, too little too late...." from July 26th, 2007, I would like to present to you some real questions that I believe truly reflect the will of the American People. I would like to preface w/the fact that I'm a 34 year old, African-American, from Kansas. I lived in Mexico City as an exchange student during my senior year in high school and loved my familia Mexicana so much that I returned on 3 different occasions to have 12-16 weeks 'live-in' visits with them. As a younger man, I witnessed first hand Mexico's foray into the global economy, NAFTA and to Mexico's present day GDP ranking 12th in the world according to the World Bank. I know as well, as you, that Mexico is not a poor country, but has a lot of her citizens who live in poverty, thus my email to you today. Poverty, my friend, is the greatest enemy of the people on both sides of the border and here is where my question's come in to you. In your article you outline the common political argument's and/or sound bytes, such as, American's losing job's, wages being depressed, the 'criminalization' of people who enter illegally, that 'nativists' or restrictionist are a recent phenomena, immigrant's don't assimilate, the environmental impact and the war on terror. I would like to present to you the following questions, because as an American, I often feel that the actual American people are not consulted in this as it seems only migrant's, first or second generation, their lobbyist or the politicians seem to be the only voices heard on the matter.

So, Mr. Racheotes, is it not true that that this is largely an issue between The United States and Mexico? Our proximity,history, present and our future is our commonality. Mexico, is by far the largest source of illegal immigration, because the masses from say Lithuania, Haiti or Guatemala, don't have the option of walking through the deserts, mountains or rivers to reach the promise land. Also doesn't Mexico have 47 consular offices throughout the U.S.? So, in my opinion, we should give Mexico what she's been begging for all along a 'special' agreement between the two lands allowing for the free flow of people, as well as goods and services between the two nations. However, this could only happen if we can get Mexico's people, her pro-immigration lobby and President Calderone on board with channeling of their energies into real change in their house FIRST!!! On a micro scale, you and I are neighbors and I'm living in modest house on a meager existence and you have much the same, except your existence isn't so meager and your house is 13 times the size of my house. Your family is large with 1/2 of them doing really well, but the other 1/2 struggling to survive on a daily basis and really they don't have anything. My family, while also large is doing quite well, with only about 10% living in poverty, but opportunity exists to affect change. Because I have more does not give you carte blanche access to my house to further yourself and your needs. It would only be proper for you to knock on the front door and await my permissions to enter. Correct? On a macro scale, The US has acted with impunity or imperialistically in her historic actions and yes, we did take land from Mexico 160 years ago, but we all have to come to terms with the our present. The US also allowed slavery until shortly after this war, a morally bankrupted policy, but it is our American History. So,my point is if Mexico feels that she needs her land back, that should have been addressed centuries ago. So, geopolitics has altered the landscape and the outlook of some of it's inhabitants, but we common American's see such much energy being focused on changing our government's policies, but see no effort's in Mexico City to change the outlook of her peoples, to stamp out corruption and the lack of transparency. It would be nice for the American people to know that there is just as much passion for change at home as well as here, but we do not see this. We see millions of Mexican flags waving in the streets, millions of Mexican dollars being spent on immigration lobbying (sustaining those remittances, no doubt), even branding their efforts as Ya! Ciuadana! Also, according the an email from sarajuanavir.sre.gob.mx, if I attempt to enter Mexico City without a passport, I will be detained, arrested and deported for violating the entry requirements for La Republica Mexicana. She also went on to detail that if I purchase a home in Mexico, I'm required to pay taxes on my property but am not allowed to work without the proper permissions of their government. Again, a violation of Mexican law, which is criminally punishable and a deportable offense. So, in short, it feels as if many Open Borders Advocacy groups want the very thing that even their home country will not permit. I know first hand that many citizens in and from Mexico cry racists because US immigration policy doesn't work in their favor, yet many Guatemalans and Cubans are picked up by Mexico's department of Immigration Control and guess what, detained and then shipped back to their home base. As an African-American, I've also witnessed the cultural racism that exists in Mexico towards the Indian populous and even the attitudes towards the children of Africa who've been scattered throughout the earth. Another question or actually concern of the average American, is the immigrants who want so desperately to cling to their national identity. It's rather unsettling to know that I live in an area where a large percentage of my 'neighbors' are really concerned about our great nation first and foremost. I understand dual loyalties or even divided, but when a people live in a place that they have no allegiance too, it's quite disturbing. Of course I know that a lot of what we are experiencing in these times has a lot to do with globalization. But, I believe the average everyday American would like our Southern neighbors to love their country more so and not be afraid to live there and to be enabled to thrive there, like Canada. Again, it's the ruling superclass on both sides of the Rio that are going to have an awful future to face if they continually ignore the plight of the people. But it is absolutely not fair for one to dump their poor on the other.

Best Regards,

Derrick Osborne