…on illegal immigration and the economy of Mexico:
“Dear Mr. Derbyshire—I lived in Arizona for over sixteen years. The last
four near the Mexican border. In fact, I could see Mexico everytime I
looked out my kitchen window. Most of my time was spent in public service.
Ten of those years supervising law enforcement agencies. I had many
opportunites to observe illegal immigration in all of its many ugly faces.
“I wont bore you with stories of evil smugglers or tales of heart rending
suffering in the desert. I will tell you this. Mr. Frum is absolutley
correct. Mexico’s economy would be in utter shambles without illegal
immigration. The U.S. dollars that all those UDAs mail, wire and carry
back to Mexico represents the fourth, at least, largest source of hard
foreign currency for the Mexican economy. You don’t think pesos are buying
Mexico it’s, computers, jets and other assorted technology do you?
“For all the grand talk of revolution, peasant rights, land reform, blah,
blah, blah the fact remains that the familes that owned Mexico 200 years ago
still own most of it today, including the banks.
“The Mexican government will never take any steps to stem the flow of this
cash stream. I’m sure you’ve noticed all the ugly diplomatic scenes that
have been created by Mexico over the loss of Mexican manufacturing jobs to
China. Of course those manufacturing jobs originated in the United States.
Nobody (in the Mexican govt.) cares if the television factory closes. That
spigot of U.S. currency is still wide open.”