Illegal immigration on front burner

THE EDITOR: For the first time in ten years the US government has finally recognised the importance of immigration reform.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers seemingly under political pressure have decided to draft new laws to alleviate the problem. But the question is: can new laws remedy this plague? I don’t think so.
In fact new laws would only offer a temporary relief to the symptoms of illegal immigration rather than diagnose the illness of the sources that exist in Latin and Central American countries.
It is without a doubt that the US government had ignored the problem for too long and what we now witness is a result of build up of years of neglect.
Larry Birns, director of the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, a group that monitors events in the Western Hemisphere, says lawmakers “are coming up with a solution that postpones the problem for a future generation to deal with. “Birns argues that there are villains who have been caught in this triangular relationship these include — “The US authorities who looked the other way, the multinationals who depended upon cheap labour to lower their cost of production and the Mexican government who did nothing to try and control the situation.” There is another point of view from an insider who worked closely with the Mexican government.
Fredo Arias-King, a former speech writer for Mexican President Vicente Fox. He says because of Fox “Corruption has actually increased and the quality of government deteriorated.”
He also estimates that “Mexican illegal immigration to the US under Fox has actually increased and is likely to continue at the present level for at least 20 years more.”
What is more worrying about the discussion is a recent opinion expressed by Ernesto Zedillo, who was a former Mexican President (1994-2000). In a Forbes Magazine article he said that citizens in Latin American countries “spend their lives worrying about security and crime...burdened by corruption and aggrieved by the power of special interest groups.” In other words unlike US politicians King and Zedillo recognise that corruption is the main ingredient that impedes progress in the Western Hemisphere.
More than that, the fact that illegal immigrants can advocate their cause in unison in itself often leads them to articulate a combination of hostile and irrational misrepresentations about what they should get from the US.
Take for instance the one sided story that they do the jobs Americans don’t want, a notion that has some merits but not all the facts.
The time has come for illegal immigration to be placed on the front burner in the US so that the events and situations that gave rise to the problem in the first place can be examined in its proper context. It would also be an irresponsible act for politicians to merely apply cosmetics to the problem since that would only offer short term benefits to a real threat that confronts America.
Also for a solution to be found it has to be participatory in the sense that illegal immigrants themselves must recognise that their role must go beyond demonstrations and street rallies.
They can begin the process right now with a clarion call that demands the practice of fair and open government in their home countries. Such a move would indeed ensure brighter horizons for their future generations.