Mexico displaying galling arrogance

By ROD DREHER

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

An anti-defamation league for Mexican migrants to the United States? That’s what the Mexican government is considering, taking a cue from American Jews in its latest effort to protect and defend the presence of its own citizens here illegally.

In doing so, Mexican officials have appropriated another concept from Jewish culture: chutzpah.

The Dallas Morning News reported last week that the Mexican government, anxious about increased deportations from el norte, plans to give its 47 consulates in the U.S. more authority and resources to fight for Mexican nationals living here — even if they’re present in violation of the law.

The gall of this government, inserting itself into American politics to aid and abet lawbreaking by its citizens. Really, it takes one’s breath away. Would Mexico dare tolerate this sort of activity by U.S. diplomats? If the White House had any spine, it would call in the Mexican ambassador and demand that his government cease and desist this behavior incompatible with diplomatic status.

As nervy as this new initiative is, it is by no means the first time Mexico has used its consulates to undermine American law and nationhood. As Heather Mac Donald reported in City Journal, “Mexican officials here and abroad are involved in a massive and almost daily interference in American sovereignty.”

You will recall that infamous comic-book guide, published by the Mexican government, showing its citizens how to enter the U.S. illegally and avoid detection once here. How is that substantially different from the Dallas consulate’s recent advisory that Mexican citizens should stay out of Irving, Texas, to avoid being deported? It’s to be expected that a consulate would offer advice to its citizens on how to avoid danger when abroad. But what kind of low-rent government tells its people how to break the law of the host country without getting caught?

The idea that Mexican nationals here need an “anti-defamation league” entails the obnoxious notion that to oppose illegal immigration is, on its face, a racist position.

Vigorous protests

That’s precisely the stance Mexican consulates have taken in other cases, Ms. Mac Donald reports. The Mexican consul in Boston, for example, vigorously protested the arrest and criminal trespass trial of four illegals as “discriminatory and a violation of human rights.”

Can you imagine the outrage south of the border if an American ambassador shrieked that a Mexican trial of Americans charged with criminal activity was a racist and inhumane proceeding? The denunciations of American arrogance and yanqui imperialism would never cease. Nor would we hear the end of protests if the U.S. government directed its consuls in Mexico to work to shape the domestic political debate to Washington’s advantage.

It’s no secret why Mexican officials are behaving so arrogantly: They’re trying to keep their own people from turning on them. Primitivo Rodriguez, a Mexico City resident who supports the new diplomatic strategy, told The News that a “tsunami” of deported Mexicans is headed home in the future and that the government has no idea how to deal “with so many unhappy, desperate people.”

Here’s an idea: How about undertaking political, economic and social reforms to make Mexico a place where hard-working men and women can make a decent living? Where a citizen can count on fair dealing and the rule of law, instead of corruption, exploitation and violence? It is a national disgrace that an estimated half-million Mexicans leave their own country for America every year — and last year sent back a record $23 billion to support families.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas calls these remittances “an important source of income and stability.” No doubt, but why should Americans enable the dysfunction of the Mexican government and allow it to evade doing right by its own people? What kind of stable status quo relies heavily on illegal activity?

Demagogic game

Should we solve the illegal immigration crisis? Absolutely. Is racism a part of the debate? Of course, and it must be condemned wherever it shows its ugly face. Still, the Mexican government is playing a dangerous, demagogic game here and kindling a ferocious backlash from U.S. citizens sick and tired of being played for fools.

You can’t explain to ordinary Americans what business a foreign government has advocating for its citizens’ “right” to break our laws, nor why they should feel guilty when officials finally decide to enforce that law.

In the end, the Mexican government will do what it must to protect its own interests. What I can’t figure out is why the American government doesn’t feel the same way.

X Dreher is a Dallas Morning News editorial columnist. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.