Undocumented workers pay billions a year in taxes, Ultra. Did that escape your attention the first two or three times it was mentioned?
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1-2 Million from Mexico?
You're joking, right?
No, considering he's talking about Mexicans. Others may cross from the Mexican border, but that doesn't make them Mexicans. It's the same point I was making earlier when I mentioned that there are people from other countries (many of them) that find their way into either Mexico or Canada and then crossover.
Illegal/undocumented workers don't pay certain taxes the same way I don't pay taxes for certain off the books jobs that I do. But there are taxes that everyone pays. The easiest example I can think of is paying sales tax on items purchased from stores. Those are obvious taxes that everyone (legal or illegal) pays. There are other things depending on the job a person has, such as Social Security, that everyone pays into (legal or illegal).
And FYI, illegals don't pay taxes.
So basically you're saying that if my neighbour pays me 50 bucks to paint his fence, I should pay taxes, EI deductions and CPP. Am I reading this wrong?
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So basically you're saying that if my neighbour pays me 50 bucks to paint his fence, I should pay taxes, EI deductions and CPP. Am I reading this wrong?
Actually, yes. And nix my earlier statement about taxes; I was incorrect.
The only way an undocumented person can collect a refund in taxes or unemployment (even "welfare") is by using a real social security card which is not under their name. They must prove to IRS the social security is theirs.
That is, you changed your address. But in 90% plus of the cases, the government keeps the income tax refunds if any. That is, if the person was paid cash, then none.
One has to pay out of own pocket for many medical expenses since there is no medical, no insurance,....
That is to be expected when one sneaks into a country without going through any sort of legal channel of entry.
Now checking some of the latest Mexican statistcis from its own census bureau:
www.gobernacion.gob.mx/
La poblacin de Mxico alcanz los 105.3 millones a mediados de ao Mxico, DF, 20 de julio de 2004
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El Presidente Vicente Fox Quesada encabezar el acto de presentacin del II Informe de Avances de Ejecucin del Programa Nacional de Poblacin 2001-2006, que describe los logros y avances de la poltica de poblacin en lo que va de la administracin, as como los retos para los aos siguientes, maana mircoles 21 de julio en la residencia oficial de Los Pinos.
El Consejo Nacional de Poblacin (CONAPO) estima que a mediados de 2004 la poblacin de Mxico alcanz los 105.3 millones, es decir, 1.1 millones o 1.09 por ciento ms que en 2003. Por su nmero de habitantes, Mxico ocupa el undcimo lugar entre las naciones ms pobladas del mundo. Asimismo, se estima que ocurrirn alrededor de dos millones de nacimientos y cerca de 469 mil defunciones durante el presente ao, lo cual equivale a un incremento absoluto de casi 1.5 millones de personas, o bien, a una tasa de crecimiento anual de 1.44 por ciento.
El saldo neto migratorio internacional de Mxico es negativo, aproximadamente de 398 mil personas durante 2004. Al descontar esta cifra del aumento natural de la poblacin (la diferencia entre nacimientos y defunciones), el crecimiento neto total en nmeros absolutos desciende a poco ms de 1.1 millones de personas y la tasa de crecimiento a 1.06 por ciento anual
For those who don't understand Spanish here is the traslation from Altavista
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President Vicente Fox Quesada will head the act of presentation of II the Report of Advances of Execution of the National Program of Population 2001-2006, that describes to the benefits and advances of the population policy in which it goes of the administration, as well as the challenges for the following years, tomorrow Wednesday 21 of July in the official residence of the Pines. The National Council of Poblacio'n (CONAPO) estimates that in the middle of 2004 the population of Mexico reached 105,3 million, that is to say, 1,1 million or 1,09 percents more than in 2003. By its number of inhabitants, Mexico occupies the eleventh place between the nations more populated with the world. Also, esteem which two million births and near 469 thousand deaths will happen the present around during year, which is equivalent to an absolute increase of almost 1,5 million people, or, to a rate of annual growth of 1,44 percents. The international migratory net balance of Mexico is negative, approximately de 398 thousand people during 2004. When discounting this number of the natural increase of the population (the difference between births and deaths), total the net growth in absolute numbers descends to little more than 1,1 million people and the rate of growth to 1,06 annual perc
Thus, Mexico's population growth now almost equals that of The United states, so don't expect many Mexicans crossing the border.
Again, the net migration was 398,000 according to the census.Now, not all went to to the Unted States. Some went to Canada, France, Spain, England,....
Yet, many of those 398,000 will return....one day to Mexico.
Can you see why I said that immigration from Mexico is now a myth used by rightist politicians to get elected...They make it look like 1 million come from Mexico every year.
Then how come they still cross it anyway? If uneducated low skilled workers are good for an economy then why isn't Mexico rich? There is very little opportunity of success in that country. If Mexico had job and education opportunites like the United States, do you really think illegal immigration would be a hot button issue?
Illegals cost billions of doors...and this is just in California.
Also, here's some fuzzy math on illegal immigration.
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New York Democrat Charles Schumer said legislation is needed "to solve the problem of millions of foreigners who live here illegally and unprotected" as well as "to alleviate the problem of the millions more who enter illegally every year." He kept his estimate of the number of illegal immigrants vague because "no one knows for sure how many are really here," the National Journal reported. "Nor can anyone give a reliable estimate of how fast that unknown figure is growing each year."
A sound bite from last week? Nope. The year was 1985, Mr. Schumer was in the House of Representatives and debate was raging over how to address the growing number of illegal immigrants, then estimated at somewhere between 3 million and 12 million.
Twenty-one years later, several amnesties granted to undocumented immigrants have failed to keep the number of illegal immigrants from growing. And estimates of their numbers remain fuzzy and full of pitfalls, even as lawmakers toss them around in the latest round of debates over whether to offer guest-worker status to illegal immigrants.
At the core of the problem is the fact that undocumented immigrants don't generally come forward to be counted. The most widely quoted estimate of 11 million to 12 million is derived indirectly, using what's called a residual method: Researchers subtract the number of immigrants who were authorized to come to the U.S. from the number of foreign-born residents counted by the Census Bureau, then adjust the number using estimates of immigrants' deaths and migration, and of Census undercounting. Some critics say that estimate understates the degree of undercounting: Another estimate making the rounds holds that there are 20 million illegal immigrants.
That was the upper range Bear Stearns analysts Robert Justice and Betty Ng estimated last year, citing high growth rates in foreign remittances and in school enrollments in localities with high illegal-immigrant populations. The analysts added, "According to our discussions with illegal immigrants, they avoid responding to census questionnaires."
And there are still-higher estimates to be found online: The Web site of the "immigration crime-fighting" group American Resistance Foundation estimates there are more than 28 million illegal immigrants, based largely on border-patrol apprehension rates; however, there is little reliable data on how many border-crossers who are caught try to enter a second time.
"No one really knows," says Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security.
Of those citing the 20 million figure, Mr. Strassberger says that "the number seems to be agenda-driven." But if so, it's not always the same agenda doing the driving.
On CNN last Sunday, anchor Lou Dobbs, who has argued for tighter border controls, spoke of "the toll that 20 million illegal aliens take on the infrastructure of the United States and on local, state, and federal taxpayer budgets." (At other times during his recent broadcasts, Mr. Dobbs has cited a range between 11 million and 20 million. A CNN spokeswoman says Mr. Dobbs is relying on the Bear Stearns report for the higher number.)
But talk-show host Tony Snow, arguing that immigrants are a boon to the economy, wrote Monday, "The United States somehow has managed to absorb 10 million to 20 million illegal immigrants not only without turning into Animal Farm, but while cranking up the most impressive economic recovery in two decades."
In 2000, before it was folded into DHS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service used the residual method to estimate there were seven million illegal immigrants and their numbers were growing by 250,000 to 300,000 per year. Mr. Strassberger says that remains the government's best estimate, though he concedes it's out of date.
Following largely the same procedure that INS used, the Washington, D.C., think tank Pew Hispanic Center counted 11 million illegal immigrants last year, and between 11.5 million and 12 million last month; the group is the source for most lawmakers and reporters citing a number. (The Wall Street Journal generally has printed estimates of 11 million, or a range of 11 million to 12 million.)
But the residual method is by necessity complicated, and each step in its formula introduces uncertainty. Jeffrey Passel, a Pew senior research associate, walked me through the procedure (also outlined in Pew's latest report). The starting point is the Census Bureau's annual Current Population Survey report, which bases a count of foreign-born residents on interviews conducted with about 80,000 households. The Census intentionally seeks out a disproportionately large number of Hispanic households to get richer data. Interviewers, either by telephone or in person, ask where every member of each household was born. These figures are then extrapolated to the nation, adjusting for the larger sample of Hispanics. The latest estimate of foreign-born Americans to emerge from such calculations was roughly 36 million, Dr. Passel says.
Next, Pew subtracts the number of foreign-born Americans authorized to be in the country. Dr. Passel's team compiles annual numbers of green-card recipients, refugees and people granted asylum, a count that stretches back decades. But merely adding these numbers would be misleading, because some authorized immigrants decide to leave the country and others die. Dr. Passel assumes that immigrants of a certain age die at the same rate as the country's residents overall, and uses estimates from various studies on "outmigration," something he concedes is "hard to measure." (The outmigration numbers are also much bigger -- perhaps seven times as large -- as the number of deaths, because immigrants tend to be young.) Then the calculated total is subtracted from the total number of foreign-born residents, and the result is adjusted upwards by 10% to account for census undercounting of illegal immigrants. (That adjustment is based on one post-Census 2000 survey of undercounting among Mexican immigrants in the Los Angeles-area; other studies have yielded different estimates of undercounting.)
Dr. Passel and Robert Warren pioneered the residual method while working together at the Census Bureau in the 1980s. Dr. Warren then helped develop INS's methods for its 2000 estimate, so it's no surprise that the government's methods are similar to Pew's. Michael Hoefer, director of the office of immigration statistics, a branch of DHS, told me that the government uses the Census Bureau's American Community Survey instead of the Current Population Survey, which is based on a larger sample of households but is published later than the CPS. (Mr. Hoefer's office is working on a 2004 estimate to update the 2000 official figure of seven million.)
Also, Pew's count of illegal immigrants includes those considered "quasi-legal," meaning they're on their way to legal status, and awaiting asylum or in temporary protected status; INS's count doesn't, though the next round of government estimates might. That could mean a difference of about one million in the total count, Mr. Hoefer says.
Back in 1985, Dr. Passel told the National Journal, "The fatal flaw in virtually every study was that there's some assumption that you have to make in your estimation model for which there is absolutely no data." But he says now that estimation methods have improved, thanks to refinements of the residual-method technique, more-regular Census counts of the foreign-born population, and comparison of the numbers with Mexico population figures to see if the estimate of illegal immigrants from Mexico squares with a gap between expected and actual population counts south of the border.
However, there is still large uncertainty in the current estimates, due largely to Census undercounting and limited data about immigrants leaving the country. It's impossible to say how uncertain the estimates are; neither Pew nor the government publishes a margin of error, which is a standard component of most statistical estimates.
The variable numbers have provided material for Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who noted that on a recent Sunday political talk-show, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, referred to "11 million undocumented aliens," and just 30 minutes later on a different network, Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy used the "12 million figure." Mr. Colbert's comment: "One million illegals snuck into this country in half an hour! That is alarming. At that rate the entire population of Mexico would be here in three days. Congress, get to work on that fence." Mr. Kennedy's spokesman cited the Pew report; a representative for Mr. Specter didn't return my call seeking comment. (Numbers Guy readers Allen Cantrell, Shauna Laughna and Robert Tamiso also spotted inconsistent immigration numbers and suggested this column topic.)
Not everyone agrees that the numbers debate matters. "As long as people concede that the number is large to begin with and is increasing, the number itself is irrelevant," Vernon Briggs, a professor of labor economics at Cornell who favors enforcing sanctions against employers of illegal immigrants, told me.
But if that were so, the numbers wouldn't be continually cited by lawmakers and the press, who would serve their constituents and audience better by acknowledging the uncertainty of these estimates.
Either way Mr. Gonzalez, illegal immigrants are a burden on the United States.
And as a last note about President Vincente Fox...if you EVER meet him, tell him to stop complaining about the immigration policy of a country he's not President of and instead focus that energy on fixing his own country.
Then how come they still cross it anyway? If uneducated low skilled workers are good for an economy then why isn't Mexico rich?
Unskilled labour is merely the bedrock of a strong economy.
Wow. Reports are popping up about the American flag being banned on school grounds.
The american flag...
has been banned.
Supposedly it made the mexican students feel intimedated.
I think the United States is the only country STUPID enough. To ban their own freaking flag in their own freaking country.
Now, I'm not a big fan of patriotism for the sake of patriotism, and I've always been an opponent of dumb things like making kids in public schools sing O Canada, or salute the flag, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or whatever. But that's just plain stupid.
This "ban" probably came out of a situation in the DFW area 2 weeks ago where a student's American flag was confiscated during one of the walk-outs. The problem was that he was waving it while telling the protestors to "go back to Mexico".
The article you linked said that the students were using the flag as an "inflammatory tool" which is alot different than waving it to be patriotic.
Using the flag in such a way is insulting to those who shed blood to keep it flying.
But banning it outright? Including red, white, and blue clothing? How about punishing the troublemakers instead?
They probably talked about making Red White and Blue together a "Gang color". Punish the kids, sure but banning the flag makes no sense.
I sort of blame the business people. They know they totaly want all this cheap labor. It must be really tempting.
A bit late to respond, but I'm pretty sure that has more to do with American outsourcing/imperialism.
I don't see how it's possible to "outsource" yard work, carrying stuff, and all the other things a guy might pay some Mexican kids a few bucks to do.
Business , man, not the joneses down the street who are too lazy to get off their fat asses.
Weird. How is it possible to let them stay if they have been in the states five years? Yet deport the ones who have been here less than five years? It makes no sense. If they are undocumented you can't tell if they were in the States for 5 years or 5 minutes!
And surely no illegal will tell you.
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If they are undocumented you can't tell if they were in the States for 5 years or 5 minutes!
Businesses know. People in towns know if someone is "new" or has been around for awhile. If they've overstayed a visa and gone underground, it's not that hard to check.
Sure, some people could & would lie, but it's not completely impossible to find out for many.
Have you seen today's marches?::jester
From San Diego to New York...they marched.See Yahoo.
90% of them are legal residents or citizens. Those undocumented are afraid of being arrested, so they don't attend.
This tells you we are fed up with being the scapegoats :fist
everytime Republicans uise us for political purposes. Every tinme there is an election,...it happens. This time, a new generation of young people will remember theses days.
Many here in the United States get upset when someone doesn't display the flag.
How will you feel when someone burns your flag?
These people were burning the Mexican flag in Tucson.
See KVOA.COM.
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About 12 people from the Tucson-based Border Guardians burned the flag Sunday on the sidewalk in front of the Mexican Consulate. They carried a sign that read, "Defending American Sovereignty."
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90% of them are legal residents or citizens. Those undocumented are afraid of being arrested, so they don't attend.
And you know this...how?
Many of my students were in the 500,000 march in Los Angeles.The police had begun detaining students for being truant and giving them $250 tickets.
I don't think burning the Mexican flag was a good thing. Nothing was gained from this. There is also going to be a boycott from jobs on May 1st. I'm guessing every hispanic will either quit their job or just not show up to work.
When The United States, Canada, and Mexico signed an economic pact (NAFTA)in to be implemented on January 1, 1994
it waas expected to be like the European common market. Germany has the largest population, yet no one becomes German. No one is forced to accept the nationality of the place they work now.Even the British continue to use pounds.
There hundreds of thosands of Americans living in Europe. They are not asked to become Europeans.
Like I said before: immigration is a two way stret. It flows in both directions.
Don't need to. Most come trough airplanes. 500,000 plus students from abroad are here on any given year. Notice Mexico is not up there.
See number of foreign students in The United States.
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Number of Chinese studying in US down: report
People's Daily
Beijing, Nov. 7, (Xinhuanet) -- From 2002 to 2003 the Chinese mainland has seen slower growth in the number of students going to the United States for studies, according to the latest annual report of the US Institute of International Education (IIE) released on November 3. During the year the mainland has a total of 64,757 students studying in the United States, a rise of only 2 percent over the previous year, ranking second among all other countries and regions.
China began to send students to the United States in 1979, and saw the fastest growth and biggest number of students from 1989 to 1994. From 1995 its first place was taken over by Japan. India rose suddenly as a new force in the past two years, and stayed for the second year at the top of the list. In 2003 it sent a total of 74,603 students to the United States, up 12 percent year on year.
But if we add Taiwan at the fourth place (28,017 students, down 3 percent) and Hong Kong at the 15th place (8076 students, up 4 percent), China is still the country with the most students studying in the United States. The ROK and Japan take the third, fourth places respectively.
Latest statistics show that the United States has a total of 586,323 foreign students in 2003, a growth of less than 1 percent, being the smallest growth rate since 1998.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese were allowed to stay after Tian an men square in 1989.
Hundreds of thousands of students overstay their visas, marry Americans, get work visas,....
So if you are planning to build a wall, make sure you also build one in Canada and shut visas for foreign students.
Stop giving visas to live here to most nations.The amounts are almost the same regardless of population.
Then the playing field will be equal.
Also stop sending Americans to live in Mexico. They don't pay taxes. They use the roads,beaches,....80% live there illegally.
Like I said before, Immigration IS A TWO WAY HIGHWAY. But only the Mexicans get singled out.We are tired of that.
it is an election year. Republicans always use immigration to stay in power.
Republicans are divided on the whole illegal immigration issue. It was actually a Republican who gave amnesty to millions of illegals (Reagan).
And as I've said before, immigration is fine. Legal immigration, that is. It kind of becomes a problem when they're illegal.
And a wall with Canada is also a good idea. That would have to come later though.
Comparing students coming to America to find higher education and then staying once they recieve gainful employment to a bunch Mexicans hopping the border to be janitors and live in the country illegally is a little bit of a lopsided argument, don't you think?
Gawd! If it wasn't ILLEGAL I'd totaly be okay with all of this. I just don't get why they think they can get away with a crime, in their first time in America.
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Comparing students coming to America to find higher education and then staying once they recieve gainful employment to a bunch Mexicans hopping the border to be janitors and live in the country illegally is a little bit of a lopsided argument, don't you think?
Obviously you're not aware that some students who do come here for education purposes overstay their legal admission into the country and stay here illegally--and yes many do get jobs that they "shouldn't have" because they're illegal residents. There are different methods to becoming an illegal immigrant and the education overstay is one of the main methods.
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I just don't get why they think they can get away with a crime, in their first time in America.
If the punishment were just to pay taxes they've avoided and a fine, I doubt that would be as big an issue as it has become.
I think it's fairly obvious that the real reason the White House is suddenly cracking down on illegals is because they finally noticed that $7.5 trillion debt they have to pay down and how badly they need that extra tax revenue.
Eh. They waited too long. This problem seems almost impossible to resolve.
Sorry, make that 8.4 trillion dollars. It's hard to keep track these days.
As long as they fix the system, its fine by me.
Did thousands of black people flee to Mexico when they were getting lynched, their churches blown up, homes burnt down, beaten in the streets? Nnooooo. They stayed in their home, the United States, and fought for what was rightfully theirs. >.>
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Did thousands of black people flee to Mexico when they were getting lynched, their churches blown up, homes burnt down, beaten in the streets? Nnooooo. They stayed in their home, the United States, and fought for what was rightfully theirs. >.>
Actually, that's not entirely correct. I'm not sure of the exact number, but Blacks did leave for Liberia long before the Civil War due to slavery & other issues in the U.S. as well as in the early 1900s (in part due to the "Back to Africa" movement headed by Garvey).
Hm.I wonder if the ones who went to Liberia went legally or illegally. Or if that was even an issue back then. Thats something to look into.
True Red, I found your knowledge of history good, especially at your age, and at this age in time. You were born during the video era, the time when people used to say: I got Pac man fever,....
One should never be blinded by ideology to the realities of life. that is why I commend you.
Eh, I still think my grasp of history is weaker than I'd like. My dad though is amazing. ^^
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Actually, that's not entirely correct. I'm not sure of the exact number, but Blacks did leave for Liberia long before the Civil War due to slavery & other issues in the U.S. as well as in the early 1900s (in part due to the "Back to Africa" movement headed by Garvey
Yes they did and it was the U.S.'s only country it started with immigrants from the U.S. Just like the U.S. is the step child of the U.K., Liberia is the stepchild of the U.S.
easy fix. Remember the great wall of china? well... that was built many years ago, without technology. with technology, im sure we can build a "Great wall of Mexico" along the boarder... we can electrify it too =3 get creative! make a moat!
A moat seems a little exsessive. But I know you're just kidding. There seems to be a new conflict over the Stared Spangled Banner. Apparently many want it sung in Spanish. And new words added in to bash harsh immigration laws.
Making a wall would be a little excessive. A lot would compare a wall of such things to compared to the Bradenberg Walls that the Russian's created to keep in the Germans. Maybe.
Now to get back on topic. I think these illegal immigrants should feel free to come here tis' long as they pay taxes and such. *shrug*
that's true, Mike. After all, mostpeople who are here "illegally" did not cross through the desert, The Rio Grande (Bravo as known in Mexico), or the fence.
They came mostlty from Asia (South Korea, China, taiwan, hong Kong, Phillippines, Pakistan, Iran, India,...),Europe (ireland, Poland, Romania,...), Africa, and South America with visas: tourist, temporary worker, and student. Once here, they let the visa expire by overstaying.
see LA Times article . I feel vindicated now.
Foreigners can travel to the United States on several types of visas, including tourist, work, student and religious visas, with varying time restrictions. Most visitors from certain countries, including much of Western Europe, don't require a visa to travel in the U.S. for up to 90 days because of reciprocal agreements among countries.
see LA Times
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Staying Put When Visas Expire
About 3.6 million people who arrived in the U.S. legally don't leave when they should. They are targeted as the nation debates its immigration policy.
By Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer
May 22, 2006 .....
Kamara, an illegal immigrant now trying to get a green card, is one of an estimated 3.6 million people living in the U.S. who have overstayed or otherwise violated the terms of their visas
.........But that is changing at a time of increasingly heated national debate over illegal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security announced last month that 165,000 visa violations occur annually and that tracking those cases is part of a new enforcement crackdown............
Some foreign nationals living in Los Angeles acknowledge that they used the temporary visa system as their gateway into the United States."This is the way to come to America," said Pakistani immigrant Sarfraz Ahmad, who arrived on a student visa in 2004 but said he didn't attend school.
.........
In 2004, there were nearly 30.8 million nonimmigrant visas issued. They included visas for about 5.3 million temporary workers and business travelers, 22.8 million tourists and 620,000 students, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
I don't doubt Arnold Schwarzeneggar might have been one whose visa expired.
But they always blame the Mexicans. Like I said, my estimation is 1.7 million-2.5 million Mexicans who are undocumented.
But over 5-7 million Asians here with expired visas living illegally.
Whoopty doo. All I care about is the 'illegal' part. Doesn't matter if they're Mexican or not. If they're here illegally, they are criminals. Period.
I also find it funny that Mexican President Vincente Fox is decrying Ammerica's immigration laws when, by comparison, Mexico's immigration laws are downright barbaric.
I also find it funny that Mexican President Vincente Fox is decrying Ammerica's immigration laws when, by comparison, Mexico's immigration laws are downright barbaric.
Would you care to elaborate?
According to Mexico's immigration laws:
A) You must be able to speak the native language.
B) Only those 'useful' to Mexico's economy or social structure will be allowed in, like a professional or an investor. Unskilled workers =/= Immigrants to Mexico
C) Foreigners will not have the right to vote. Ever. No matter how long they've stayed in the country (only native-born Mexicans). They will also not be allowed to hold political office (Which means, say, Arnold couldn't be governor).
D) You are not entitled, ever, to welfare, to food stamps, or other government goodies. You can come if you invest in Mexico, but it must be an amount equal to an amount thousands of times greater than the daily minimum wage. If you dont have that amount of money, you cant come and invest. You have to stay home.
E) If you do come and you want to buy land, your options will be restricted. You will not be allowed to buy waterfront property in Mexico. That will be reserved for citizens naturally born in the country. In fact, as a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to property.
F) You dont have the right to protest when you come here. Youre allowed no demonstrations, you cannot wave a foreign flag, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing the president or his policies, or you get sent home.
G) The Secretary of Governance may 'suspend or prohibit the admission of foreigners when he determines it to be in the national interest.'
H) A national Catalog of Foreigners tracks foreign tourists and immigrants, and assigns each individual with a unique tracking number.
I) Foreigners with legal immigration problems may be deported from Mexico instead of being imprisoned.
J) A Mexican who marries a foreigner with the sole objective of helping the foreigner live in the country is subject to up to five years in prison.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
There are some aspects of Mexico's immigration laws that I wouldn't mind putting into American law (English being mandatory? Go for it.). But some of them are just idiotic. Perhaps I was overreacting with the barbaric part, but darn it, I'm getting tired of Vincente Fox trying stick his hand into America's immigration policy (saying that we're 'inhumane') when his country's immigration laws are infinitely more strict than America's.
That's no different than the United States, Ultrasonic.
When I lived there, Americans were arrested for putting the Mexican flag on the buttocks of their pants. Would you be insulted if Mexicans also put the United States flags on their buttocks?
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F) You dont have the right to protest when you come here. Youre allowed no demonstrations, you cannot wave a foreign flag, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing the president or his policies, or you get sent home.
I have seen American flags waving. English is spoken wherever Americans are. They have their own islands (that is, neighborhoods there. They are an isolated bunch. No wonder they got problems of communication. They only can get away with hola, mucho bueno (not Spanish-Spanish is Muy Bueno), hasta la vista, adios, gracias,...Mexicans here know more than that.
That includes my mother.
After all, I am a living proof. I can argue, discuss,debate...with you in English. Besides, I read French, Italian, ...some Koine Greek, and Esperanto. I also know quite a few words in Hebrew.
