Vicente Fox is a racist.

[bryanthompson]

Article: "Mexico's Fox toughens talk on U.S. immigration law" (http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050514/2005-05-14T032909Z_01_N13376712_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MEXICO-USA-DC.html)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Vicente Fox called recent U.S. measures to stem illegal immigration a step back for bilateral relations on Friday and said Mexican migrants do jobs "that not even blacks want to do."

In comments likely to raise the temperature of the immigration debate, Fox defended the role of undocumented Mexican workers in the United States to a group of Texas business people meeting in Mexico.

"There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States," he said in a speech broadcast in part on local radio and reported on newspaper web sites.
...
A key partner in U.S. border security, Mexico is upset at new U.S. controls on foreign-born people, including tougher rules to obtain drivers' licenses.

Congressional Republicans attached the immigration changes to legislation providing $82 billion in emergency funds for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law soon.

The law, approved unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday, waives environmental rules to allow the extension of a fence on the border between California and Mexico to stop illegal immigrants. Mexico calls the measure "overly extreme."

You see, it's extreme when we keep illegals out of our country, but it's standard operating procedure when mexico keeps el salvadorians, and other Latin Americans out of Mexico. He's so transparent, it's unbelievable that we even take him seriously.

[speeder]

He's a joke. He should be a little more responsible for improving the condition of Mexico so that all of its people don't want to leave.

There is no job on earth that U.S. citizens will not do, (or have not done), for a fair, competitive wage. There are also millions of people in 3rd world countries across the globe who would give anything to have the opportunity to work here and send cash home, but they cannot sneak over in the trunk of a car from India or Africa. Legal immigration would be a lot more fair.

[bryanthompson]

imagine that... I agree 100%

[vash]

but wouldnt a fair and competitive wage make strawberries and other handpicked fruit expensive as hell?

if india and africa were separated from the US by a dried up muddy river, you betcha. they would be sneaking over.

but i agree, mexico is corrupt as hell. they have the same natural resources that we have here. and they can ramp it up, and become major players....i dont get it.

[vash]

thinking about it some more...

i think i read somewhere that mexican labor really put california agriculture where it is today. hell, the majority of the labor in carlsbad new mexico bat cave collecting guana, was all cheap foriegn help. all that schit went west to fertilize our cheap lettuce and citrus farms. migrant farmers, do the work.... check history. cheap labor got it done. chinese on the railroads...blahblahblah.

is it fair, now that we are done with them to slam the door shut? we need to fix this problem.

[pbs911]

There is no job on earth that U.S. citizens will not do, (or have not done), for a fair, competitive wage.

The problem is the employers will always seek to pay the lowest possible wages possible. Big businesses are unwilling to paid a competitive wage when they can have someone willing to work for pennies an hour do the work. If not immigrants from Mexico, it will be another county. Personally, I would like Mexico's ecomonic and standard of living structures to change to the point American would want to move there.

[Hugh R]

Originally posted by vash
but wouldnt a fair and competitive wage make strawberries and other handpicked fruit expensive as hell?

They are when you include the social costs, like their paid (by us) free education and medical.

[350HP930]

Is paying a few more cents per lb for veggies really going to make anyone in america go hungry?

Sometimes paying more for something makes sense, but america's new religion is 'I wan't it as cheap as possible no matter what the consequences will cost me'.

As far as fox goes, he is a crooked politician with ties to narcoterrorists, but then again show me a world leader who isn't.

[creaturecat]

Two of my friends are movie caterers - They went to a 2 day catering conference in Florida. The first morning was devoted entirely to the saving of labour costs by hiring illegal mexican helpers. Different strategies were discussed to avoid having to pay "fair" wages and fringes.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by vash

but i agree, Mexico is corrupt as hell. they have the same natural resources that we have here. and they can ramp it up, and become major players....i don't get it.

Me either, they obviously have a massive group of people who WANT to work (and therefor commute to the USA to suck from our proverbial tit) why can't they create an economy of their own?

[turbo6bar]

cheap labor for produce has existing for a long time. When my dad's family came from Germany in 1951, they worked as migrant fruit pickers. They traveled across the Eastern US picking fruit and getting paid dirt. They should stop the flow of illegal immigrants, but that doesn't mean we won't have a supply of cheap labor. Who's to say we won't import legal immigrants for low wage positions? Divide minimum wage by the fockload of watermelons a laborer can pick in one hour.

[350HP930]

You would think all the union bashers would hold mexico up as the ideal of what kind of wonderful results you get from exploiting labor.

[speeder]

If immigration laws were revamped and strictly enforced in the U.S., (all illegals deported, remove ALL incentives to stay here for illegals), the economic opportunities for the remaining U.S. citizens would be unbelievable.

There would be a very temporary slump while all of the adjustments were made to various markets, and of course legal immigration would provide all of the labor that we would ever need, and be a lot fairer system. Plus we could control who enters the country, an indisputable right of any sovereign nation or land.

Once again, the economic opportunities for all Americans, (of every race), would be off the hook.

[speeder]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
imagine that... I agree 100%

Bryan, This is one of those areas where the labels don't stick real well to me, in this case "liberal". I don't mind being called a liberal because I don't consider it perjorative, but the truth is that I think for myself at all times.

Illegal immigration is a hugely fuched up situation in the U.S., and most of my clear-thinking acquaintences agree unless they employ a lot of them.

[dd74]

And how do we know Fox isn't correct? That never again will one see a black housekeeper, or if we ever might see a black man as a gardener? I'm not certain the same job would be done for the same wage as is paid to an illegal immigrant if we do see such.

I agree, however, that curbing illegal immigration will open the employment floodgates - but who's going to take the jobs at the job's current wages? Or will those who employ illegals be willing to pay an increase for their lawn to be cut or their kitchens mopped?

For what they are, I take Fox's words not as much racist as a socio-economic commentary. He realizes that with the illegal, low wages and humility go hand-in-hand, which at the same time is not the case for the average American.

[vash]

Originally posted by 350HP930
Is paying a few more cents per lb for veggies really going to make anyone in america go hungry?

maybe, but i once saw a box of strawberries that was headed to japan. handpicked by some people that ran an organic farm. effen expensive....i cant remember the cost, but i was blown away... along the magnitude of $10 per lb. they were huge and beautiful.

once fair wages, health benefits...and stuff calc in, i bet it will be more than a few cents.

[red-beard]

Mexico is in the fix it's in, ecomnomically, because the 3 primary companies are quaise-government owned and strongly controlled by the Unions in the companies. Many of the people streaming north cannot get work because of the intractble problem.

The best way to stop illegal immigration, is to create a legal framework for it. The best way to stem the immigration, is to help Mexico become a country of laws, not of men, and to help them get the economic engine going.

NAFTA was supposed to help stop illegal immigration.

As far the price of food going up beacuse the cheap labor isn't here, well, I expect you could pay minimum wage for picking fruit and it wouldn't change who is doing it. I know many of you will not/do not shop a Walmart, but the majority of America does. If you increase the price of food produced in the USA, people will buy imported food.