Long resentful at what they regard as second-class treatment by Washington, Mexicans across the political spectrum are blasting the Bush administration”s border and immigration policies. Stinging criticisms, diplomatic tiffs, street protests, and even calls for boycotts of U.S. businesses have characterized the Mexico-U.S. relationship in recent weeks.
While the conflict has obvious ramifications for future Mexico-U.S. relations, it will likewise impact internal Mexican politics, including the upcoming presidential election, as well as shape Mexico”s future relationships with Latin America and the rest of the world. Condemnations of planned U.S. border walls by European Union legislators demonstrate how the U.S.-Mexico border crisis is sending political fallout around the globe.
Fueling the discord are two recent events: the United States House of Representatives passage in December 2005 of HR best online casino 4437, the Sensenbrenner border security/immigration bill, and the December 30 shooting death of a young Mexican migrant, Guillermo Martinez, by U.S. Border Patrol agents near San Diego-Tijuana. In Mexico, reactions to the events ranged from frustration to bewilderment to anger.
Like many of his countrymen, Hilario Garcia, a farmer from southern Guerrero state, has made the trek north without papers. A California ranch hand during the 1980s, Garcia is puzzled over the fuss in the United States about Mexican immigrants.
