Memo From Mexico, By Allan Wall
Learning
About Immigration Policy From Mexico
Almost everybody believes that the U.S.A. needs immigration
reform. I’d like to propose that we study immigration systems in other
countries, to see what we can learn from them.
It's arrogant to assume that we Americans have all the answers, and that no
other country can do
anything better than we can.
Some of the biggest critics of
our immigration policy are Mexicans. So let's examine Mexico’s
immigration policy and see what we can learn from it.
We might even decide that Mexico has some approaches to the issue that we
could copy. Surely they wouldn’t object to that.
Would they?
How can we summarize Mexican immigration/nationality
policies? Here’s how: Mexico has an immigration system tailored to fit the interests of Mexico.
And what’s wrong with that?
The legal basis for Mexico’s immigration law is found in the Ley General
de Población [the General Population Law]. PDF.
The cabinet-level department responsible for immigration is the Secretaria
de Gobernación, loosely translated as the Interior Department.
According to Article 3, section VII of the General Population Law, the
responsibility of this department is to
"Subject the immigration of foreigners to the
methods it deems relevant, and to achieve the best assimilation of these
[immigrants] to the national environment and their adequate distribution
in [Mexican] territory." [Sujetar la inmigración
de extranjeros a las modalidades que juzgue pertinentes, y procurar la mejor
asimilación de éstos al medio nacional y su adecuada distribución en el
territorio.]
So the goals of Mexican immigration policy are assimilation and the
distribution of
immigrants throughout Mexican territory.
Mexico has had immigrants from many countries, from Latin America, Europe, Asia, the
Middle East and even the
U.S.A. And Mexico has done a good job in assimilating these immigrants. Part of
it is because the immigration levels are so much lower than in the U.S., and
partly because the Mexican system does indeed encourage assimilation.
According to Article 32 of the General Population Law,
"The Interior Department will establish,
subject to the corresponding demographic studies, the number of foreigners whose
entrance to the country may be permitted, whether by activities or zone of
residence, and will subject to the methods that it deems relevant the
immigration of foreigners, according to their possibilities of contributing to
the national progress." [Artículo 32.- La Secretaría de Gobernación fijará, previos los
estudios demográficos correspondientes, el número de extranjeros cuya
internación podrá permitirse al país, ya sea por actividades o por zonas de
residencia, y sujetará a las modalidades que juzgue pertinentes, la inmigración
de extranjeros, según sean sus posibilidades de contribuir al progreso
nacional.]
So the Interior Department establishes immigration quotas based on the demographic
situation of the country, and wants immigrants who will contribute to the
development of the nation.
Article 34 even explains what kinds of immigrants Mexico is looking for:
"The Department of the Interior may establish
for the foreigners who enter Mexico the conditions that it deems appropriate
with respect to the activities to which they will engage in and the place or
places of their residence. It will take care thusly that the immigrants shall be
useful elements for the country and that they will have the necessary income
levels for their subsistence… and of the persons who are under their economic
dependence." [Artículo 34.- La Secretaría
de Gobernación podrá fijar a los extranjeros que se internen en el país las
condiciones que estime convenientes respecto a las actividades a que habrán de
dedicarse y al lugar o lugares de su residencia. Cuidará asimismo de que los
inmigrantes sean elementos útiles para el país y de que cuenten con los ingresos
necesarios para su subsistencia y en su caso, la de las personas que estén bajo
su dependencia económica.]
"Useful elements"?" Necessary income levels?" It sounds as though
Mexico is being rather choosy. Mexico wants immigrants who are (1) useful to
Mexico and (2) who have enough income to take care of themselves and their
families. How discriminatory!
OK, so what kinds of immigrants does Mexico not want? Well, that’s
spelled out in the General Population Law, Article 37. It states that
"The Department of the Interior may deny to
foreigners the entrance into the country or a change in immigration status for
any of the following reasons:
And, just to make sure everything’s covered, Article 38 stipulates that
"The Department of the Interior is authorized to suspend or forbid
the admission of foreigners, when it is determined to be in the national
interest."
That pretty much covers everything, does it not?
There are several myths and misunderstandings about Mexican immigration
policy.
Many Mexicans think that Mexico has no immigration policy, that anybody can
come into the country without any kind of visa. I’ve been asked why the U.S.
demands visas and Mexico doesn’t! Reason: few Mexicans have any contact with the
Mexican immigration bureaucracy, the INM [Instituto Nacional de
Migracion] and they’ve believed the rhetoric of the Open Door
Mexico.
Some Americans think Mexico has a lax immigration system because it’s so easy
for American tourists
to enter Mexico.
Yes, it is easy. But the tourist only sees the tip of the iceberg. Mexico has
a whole range of immigration options. The tourist visa is just the easiest
level.
The system is carefully designed to keep out paupers, to discriminate between
citizens and non-citizens, and even to discriminate between native-born
Mexicans and naturalized Mexicans.
Mexican immigration law recognizes several levels of immigration status. The
most temporary status is that of no-inmigrante, which includes, tourists,
transmigrants, visitors, religious workers, political asylees, refugees,
students, distinguished visitors, local visitors, provisional visitors and
journalists. All these individuals have the right to bring a spouse or children.
But they are responsible for them.
A more permanent status is that of "inmigrante," which includes
rentistas (people with independent means), investors, professionals,
certain administrators, scientists, technicians, artists, athletes, spouses and
parents of Mexicans, and family members of such persons (once again, at the
responsibility of the head of family).
After 5 years of being an "inmigrante", one may pass to the level of
"inmigrado" which is more permanent still.
There are restrictions on land ownership for foreigners, as I have pointed out before. There
are ways to get around this, but when a foreigner buys or gets effective control
of Mexican property, he waives his rights to the intervention of his country of
citizenship in case of a land dispute. And I have never seen the U.S. government
take any effective action to defend an American in Mexico in a land
dispute.
As far as illegal immigration, the government of Mexico detains and deports
over a quarter of a million illegals annually, most of them from Central
American countries, which
are poorer than Mexico. All Mexican police are required to enforce Mexican immigration law, and so
does the Army, which has already militarized the
northern border. [Vdare.com note: Mexico's
northern border is, of course, American's southern
border. Mexico has a southern
border of its own, of course, and it faces pressure from further
south.]
Mexican immigration officials don't hesitate to use racial profiling. In a
previous article, I reported how officials in the north of Mexico tried to deport Mexican Indians thinking
they were Central Americans. And, in a recent case, Mexican police used tear
gas to get some
illegal aliens out of a trailer. What if our immigration officials did
that?
Not only that, according to Article 67, any Mexican official who deals with a
foreigner is responsible to verify the foreigner’s legal status as part of the
transaction. The "sanctuary policy"
practiced in so many
U.S. cities would not get very far in Mexico.
When Lilia and I were married, here in Mexico, I had to ask permission of the
Mexican government to marry
her, and I had to prove I was here legally. Of course, I love my wife and so
it was worth it. But just imagine, once again, what if the U.S. did that?
Legal foreigners living here in Mexico can pretty much do anything we want.
We’re free to travel throughout Mexico to our heart’s content.
However, there are limits. It is strictly verboten for us to get mixed
up in Mexican politics, even to march in a protest demonstration.
The Mexican constitution has a particular and well-known article which deals
very clearly with the status and expectations of non-Mexicans in Mexico. It’s
the famous Article 33:
Article 33—Foreigners are those who do not
possess the qualities determined in Article 30. They have the right to the guarantees of Chapter I of the first title of this Constitution, but the
Executive of the Union has the exclusive right to expel from the national
territory, immediately and without necessity of judicial proceedings, all
foreigners whose stay it judges inconvenient. Foreigners may not, in any manner,
involve themselves in the political affairs of the country.
Articulo 33. Son extranjeros los que no
posean las calidades determinadas en el articulo 30. Tienen derecho a las
garantias que otorga el capitulo i, titulo primero, de la presente constitucion
; pero el ejecutivo de la union tendra la facultad exclusiva de hacer abandonar
el territorio nacional, inmediatamente y sin necesidad de juicio previo, a todo
extranjero cuya permanencia juzgue inconveniente.
Los extranjeros no podran
de ninguna manera inmiscuirse en los asuntos politicos del
pais.
Contrast that with the U.S.'s impossible
deportation procedures, as chronicled by Juan Mann!
Article 43 of the General Law of Population (Ley General de Población)
states
that:
"The admission to the country of a foreigner
obliges him to strictly comply with the conditions established for him in the
immigration permit and the dispositions established by the respective
laws."
Americans and other foreigners are regularly expelled for overstepping these
bounds. In 2002, 18 gringos were expelled for participating in
May Day marches. Later in the same year, five American citizens were
expelled for participating in a demonstration demanding the release of some
campesinos.
In contrast, the U.S. allows even illegal aliens to march
openly in the streets demanding their "rights."
Does the U.S. need an Article 33?
Mexico’s citizenship laws are spelled out in the legal corpus known as the
Ley de Nacionalidad. PDF
In order to become
a citizen, the applicant must renounce his home country citizenship,
demonstrate that he speaks Spanish, knows Mexican history and has assimilated to
Mexican life.[VDARE.COM note: A
previous Mexican Government had a very
bad experience with some Texans who failed to assimilate. Remember the Alamo?]
And he must have lived in Mexico for 5 years.
Certain classes of people, however, can get citizenship in less than 5 years.
For example, an immigrant married to a Mexican, or parent of a Mexican child,
can get it in 2 years. An adoptee can get it in 1 year.
And note this: Other preferences are based upon ancestry or country of
origin. An immigrant of Mexican ancestry gets a preference and only has to wait
two years. Immigrants from Latin America or the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and
Portugal) only have to wait 2 years for citizenship.
All other things being equal, this would give an immigrant from Spain a
preference over an immigrant from Germany, an immigrant from Argentina
preference over an American, and a Mexican-American would have preference over
an Anglo-American.
Hmmm! What would happen if the U.S. gave preference to immigrants from the British Isles, Canada,
and Australia? I
imagine they’d call us racists. But it's a fact: Mexico gives
preference to persons of Mexican ancestry, other Latin Americans and
Spaniards.
In the U.S.A., a naturalized citizen can do almost anything that a
natural-born citizen can do, except be president (and some people even
want to change that).
But in Mexico, naturalized citizens are limited from many positions
government positions, which are spelled out in the Mexican Constitution. A
naturalized Mexican citizen can never serve in the military
during peacetime, can never be a policeman, and can
never be a pilot,
captain or crew member on any vessel or aircraft bearing a Mexican insignia.
(Article 32) And a naturalized Mexican can never be in charge of a port
or airport.
A naturalized Mexican can never be president (Article 82), just as in the
U.S. But he can also never be in the Mexican Congress (unlike ours) (Articles 55
and 58), can never be on the Supreme Court (article 95), and never be a governor
of a Mexican state (Article 116) nor serve in the legislature or as mayor of
Mexico City (Article 122) .
The truth of the matter is, no matter how well-assimilated a naturalized
Mexican is, he will always be a sort of second-class
citizen.
And, while a natural-born Mexican can never be stripped of his citizenship, a
naturalized Mexican can be (Constitution Article 37). A naturalized Mexican
citizen could lose his
citizenship by acquiring another nationality, working for a foreign
government without permission, accepting titles or decorations from a
foreign government or helping a foreigner or foreign nation in a diplomatic
dispute or before an international tribunal.
Hmmm again. In other words, the kind of thing a lot of our Latino officials do all the
time. But Mexican law flatly prohibits that sort of thing.
If it’s good
for the goose, isn’t it good for the gander.
Bottom line: although the Mexican elite constantly attacks U.S. immigration
policy, Mexico’s own system is stricter, and explicitly focused on the interests
of Mexico.
There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s their country. But our officials should
not be intimidated one whit when scolded by Mexicans about
immigration.
In fact, we ought to turn the tables and ask Mexico about its own immigration
policy. And, frankly, we would be wise to import many aspects of Mexican
immigration policy ourselves!
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) resides
in Mexico, with a legal permit issued him by the Mexican government. Allan
recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National
Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM articles are archived here his "Dispatches from Iraq" are archived here his website is here.
