I am living in the heart of Mexico City. Last night we had an elegant dinner in a restaurant overlooking the ruins of a great Aztec temple, the Cathedral, and the National Palace with all the lights of the bicentennial shining over the largest square in the hemisphere. There is no scene with such layers of history in the U.S. Though U.S. newspapers make it sound like Mexico is in the midst of a revolution, I walk home knowing the city's death rate is far lower than Washington's. Yet every morning I read of new killings and kidnappings in other regions in the country's war with the Narco mafias. The beauty and the menace of Mexico coexist.
U.S. politicians are playing on the public's fear of poor Mexicans crossing the border, people who often become nannies in Texas or gardeners or laborers in California. We build high walls and move troops to the border to stop this. But we're doing nothing that's effective to stop the flood of narcotics that aim to meet the growing appetites of U.S. addicts, or to stem the tide of guns that arm the Narcos and flow from the hundreds of virtually unregulated shops on the U.S. side of the border. Mexico is experiencing many more deaths in its battle with the drug cartels than we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Parts of Northern Mexico are living under uncontrolled terrorism. We can only solve these problems together. This isn't a civil war as Secretary Clinton suggested, but it is a very serious challenge to government and basic order in those regions and it will produce greater upheaval if left unattended.
I've been coming to the Gran Ciudad for forty years and have a home I love in the Centro Historico. Although many in the U.S. see Mexico as a third world country, it is a great leader in Latin America. The capital, the world's second largest city, has prosperous and affluent neighborhoods, as well as terrible poverty. In some states, however, tourism and investment have come to a standstill. Families of wealth are fleeing to homes in the U.S. A bold and horrifying assassination in broad daylight of a candidate for governor in the state of Tamulipas, as well as the killing of the mayor of a rich community near Monterrey speak of terrorism too close to a still porous U.S. border. Mexico cannot solve this two-country problem by itself.
Mexico's true democracy is only ten years old and is struggling with bitter partisan divisions and facing huge challenges. We have a common market with Mexico, profound relationships, and our lives are intertwined with deep ties of destiny and blood: Mexican immigrants in the U.S., together with their children and descendants, now account for about a sixth of American children and an absolute majority of those born in our two largest states, California and Texas. Further chaos in regions of Mexico could produce a tidal wave of immigrants to come across our border that walls could not stop.
President Obama must give U.S. Mexican relations a much higher place on his agenda. We need a common, bipartisan and bi-national vision of development, security, and education as well as someone with tremendous experience and standing to represent the U.S. government, someone like the great ambassadors we once sent to Japan -- former Senate Leader Mike Mansfield and Vice President Walter Mondale -- to crystallize a great collaboration of top business, education, public safety, intellectual, and cultural leaders, and create a serious program for a shared and more successful future. If there is to be security and prosperity along our border, then we must help build a future for the young people who suffer without education and prospects, one that is better than what the Narcos offer. If we do not come up with a more serious engagement, then the time will come soon when we will all ask how we let a crisis many times more serious and explosive than Iraq and Afghanistan develop so very close to home.
Gary Orfield is co director of The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, and a Professor of Political Science, Law, Education, and Urban Planning, now on sabbatical in Mexico City.
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SO securing the border will not only help curtail illegals, but it will also help restore law and order in the border cities. I am tired of listening to the gun battles going on in Nuevo Laredo and that I cannot safely go get a nice meal in Mexico as I used to do.
I was outraged at the beheading of the police inspector, and that should have been the last straw for Obama. An honest cop was gruesomely murdered while seaching for a murdered American. THAT requires a strong response from the US. Securing the border once and for all will benefit not only the US but Mexico as well, and not to mention the first and most helpless victims, the Mexican people. Then I may get to back fishing on Falcon Lake too, and on theMexican side where the fishing is better than on the US side.
Do you have any idea of how much money these cartel groups have? Do you know what type of weapons they can buy and who they can employ to send them in our direction?
I don't think that you really understand the consequences of what you are purposing.
Our government has ignored the problem of illegal aliens for years - since 1986. We have bent over backwards to cater to the Mexicans - "press one for English" when we have never had to do that for the Irish, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Koreans and others who are in our country - driver's licenses for illegals - medical care and social services - classes in ESL that have taken the place of other classes in school curriculums.
I didn't take Mexico to raise and totally resent Calderon's words and tone when he criticizes my country. We have sent the National Guard to areas of our border known as routes for human and drug smugglers but I don't see Mexican troops or police on their side of the border in those areas. Doesn't seem like much cooperation from a country that is biting the hand that feeds it.
And since the U.S. has such a huge addiction to cocaine, heroine and weed; drug supply is a VERY lucrative business to enter if you're broke. See how it always leads back to us? Let's start being aware of our own problems before attacking Mexicans.
We already have 10% of Mexico's population in our country, many thousands illegally here. And maybe if we spent the money we send to Mexico in our own country on FREE clinics and rehabs, counseling programs, trained people to deal with the addicts in year-long programs we woudl have fewer drug addicts. But instead we send millions every year to Mexico that we could use for treatment of our own people. And what do we get in return? criticism and condemnation - but we are not supposed to say a word about Mexico's problems of corruption in its law enforcement and army, the number of innocent people killed, the escalation in the attacks with the use of IEDs (Ciudad Juarez) and our president doesn't go to Mexico denounce its laws.
If they don't like NAFTA, then get out of it. Increase patrols on the Mexican side in the areas known for drug and human smuggling. Increase the salaries of the army and police so bribery is not rampant.
The Mexican government and people have had years to correct problems, but preferred to send their poor to our country and then ask for more and more help as the problems became worse.
And just what is the real thing? That you have the very poor and the very rich? That has been the situation for 50 years that I know of - and how many years before that?
The cartels set up shop first with a tire repair, tarot and palm reading, restaurants, and used car lots.
Now mind you these cartels have a million dollars to set up shop.
1)Tire some repair shops will have a fence with barbed wire only one guy speaks english they do very little business, yet pay the rent.
2) The Tarot/Palm Reader House is doing no business, yet pays the rent.
3) The Restaurant will donate money to local politicians,offer banquet space to local business and public officials etc..one step at a time.
4) The car lots will have fence and barbed wire and a pit bull, doberman or rottweiler with the same 15 cars on it for the past two years and men sitting around in the garage talking, they do no business, yet they pay the rent. You fill in the blanks.
The Mexican economy gets by on a lot of remittances from workers in the US. Because poor Mexican families can be supported on paltry US wages, the Mexican government does not have to devote a lot of effort to social justice or welfare programs. They have a vested interest in keeping the border porous. If the border closes, then they have millions of people who'll start demanding actual accountability from their government (of course, the government will be able to get tons of money and weapons from the US to fight the "drug" war, which will also be handy to keep civilians docile).
The Mexican government is not stepping up to the plate and shouldering the burdens of a responsible state. That, as much as our quest for drugs and a cheap (exploitable) labor force, is as much to blame for the deterioration of events these last few years.
A credit card
A home loan/mortgage
A business loan
A drivers license
Free public education for the kids
Free Health Care
A fake SS #
And billion dollar a pile of lobbyists in D.C. documents, books and texts translated to their language and the right to wave their flag and protest that they are not being treated fairly.
I agree with the fine officers at Leap. (leap.cc)
The DEA forced the drug trade into Mexico. This is just the result of our War on Drugs, and keeps getting closer to home because too many people would rather let their kids have unregulated access to illegal drugs than to install a system that works. Real irony of the War on Drugs is that not only does it not accomplish it's stated goals, but actually does the opposite in some areas.
It's not rugs that need to be pulled.
What I think is significant, though, about drugs, is that the real value is in their transportation. The products themselves have very little intrinsic value. Pot almost "manufactures" itself. Coca leaves can be processed into cocaine with very common household chemicals in unsophisticated jungle "labs". The real money is in overcoming the risk of transportation.One truckload of pot, or one suitcase of cocaine can make a gangster rich for life. Would really like to see this rug pulled out from under them.