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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 9:55 pm Post subject: Mexico Works to Bar Non-Natives From Jobs |
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some great stuff in here.. can you imagine if Mexico was even slightly open to foreigners.. a nice economic boom would appear.. but doesn't happen..
also not to recipricol for what it expects from its neighbor either.
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MEXICO CITY - If Arnold Schwarzenegger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn't be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn't have been allowed on the force.
Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory.
In the United States, only two posts � the presidency and vice presidency � are reserved for the native born.
In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.
Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."
Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges.
Mexico's Interior Department � which recommended the bans as part of "model" city statutes it distributed to local officials � could cite no basis for extending the bans to local posts.
After being contacted by The Associated Press about the issue, officials changed the wording in two statutes to delete the "native-born" requirements, although they said the modifications had nothing to do with AP's inquiries.
"These statutes have been under review for some time, and they have, or are about to be, changed," said an Interior Department official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.
But because the "model" statues are fill-in-the-blanks guides for framing local legislation, many cities across Mexico have already enacted such bans. They have done so even though foreigners constitute a tiny percentage of the population and pose little threat to Mexico's job market.
The foreign-born make up just 0.5 percent of Mexico's 105 million people, compared with about 13 percent in the United States, which has a total population of 299 million. Mexico grants citizenship to about 3,000 people a year, compared to the U.S. average of almost a half million.
"There is a need for a little more openness, both at the policy level and in business affairs," said David Kim, president of the Mexico-Korea Association, which represents the estimated 20,000 South Koreans in Mexico, many of them naturalized citizens.
"The immigration laws are very difficult ... and they put obstacles in the way that make it more difficult to compete," Kim said, although most foreigners don't come to Mexico seeking government posts.
J. Michael Waller, of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, was more blunt. "If American policy-makers are looking for legal models on which to base new laws restricting immigration and expelling foreign lawbreakers, they have a handy guide: the Mexican constitution," he said in a recent article on immigration.
Some Mexicans agree their country needs to change.
"This country needs to be more open," said Francisco Hidalgo, a 50-year-old video producer. "In part to modernize itself, and in part because of the contribution these (foreign-born) people could make."
Others express a more common view, a distrust of foreigners that academics say is rooted in Mexico's history of foreign invasions and the loss of territory in the 1847-48 Mexican-American War.
Speaking of the hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who enter Mexico each year, chauffeur Arnulfo Hernandez, 57, said: "The ones who want to reach the United States, we should send them up there. But the ones who want to stay here, it's usually for bad reasons, because they want to steal or do drugs."
Some say progress is being made. Mexico's president no longer is required to be at least a second-generation native-born. That law was changed in 1999 to clear the way for candidates who have one foreign-born parent, like President Vicente Fox, whose mother is from Spain.
But the pace of change is slow. The state of Baja California still requires candidates for the state legislature to prove both their parents were native born. |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_limiting_immigrants_2 |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 1:22 pm Post subject: |
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| While Mexico has terrific food, some dandy art, drop dead gorgeous women and handsome men, I do not really regard it as a leader in political philosophy. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject: |
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| No, that's true. But dang they shorre nuff nose how tuh hev a hootin good teqila party! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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[deleted]
Last edited by Gopher on Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| TigerBeer wrote: |
| can you imagine if Mexico was even slightly open to foreigners.. a nice economic boom would appear... |
That is not how it usually works in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Anyway, for a look at what happened in Mexico when it was open to foreign investment, take a look at the Porfiriato (1876-1910) when you have the time -- and please keep in mind there is much more to it than what a superficial Googling will get you.
Good article, by the way. It is nice to see someone recognizing the incongruity of the "immigration" issue. |
Open to foreign investment is totally different than open to immigration and foreigners permanantly going there for citizenship.
Back during Clinton, there was also a crisis and bailout.. a lot of foreign investment went in.. things were booming.. and suddenly the investors just changed tunes, pulled out, and Mexico was suddenly fucked and in need of a bail-out.
But actually I was thinking more along the lines of countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.. open up their doors to immigration and such.. and suddenly economies and everything else just sort of open up and things boom economically as well.
Mostly though.. with millions and million of Mexicans live, work and emigrate to the U.S... and Mexico complains about U.S. not opening its borders more and why can't more Mexicans permanantly live there, etc., etc.
BUT.. it says all that.. and its country doesn't reflect those values whatsoever.
Mexico allows 3,000 per year to become citizens of Mexico.
U.S. allows 500,000 per year to become citizens of USA. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| While Mexico has terrific food, some dandy art, drop dead gorgeous women and handsome men, I do not really regard it as a leader in political philosophy. |
What he said.
If Mexico became an economic tiger, I think people would ask some justified questions about these restrictions. But as it stands, I'm not sure how many people want to become Mexican policemen and earn five hundred dollars a month anyway.
ESL teachers are exempt, of course--I was one there. Apparently we aren't worth consideration as a threat!
Ken:> |
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