‘Guatemala Publishes Guide to Help its Citizens Enter Mexico; Fox Calls for Temporary Worker Program’

The article for this post is about Guatemalans going into Mexico. There is a guide being thrown around Guatemala about how to get into Mexico. I thought it was a joke, but it has what you should do and not do. I just thought it was an interesting article because it seems like Mexico is complaining about the same thing Americans complain about when it comes their border. I just find it crazy that Mexico is wanting to shut down its borders to people from other countries, but they hold a different stance on their people leaving their country to go to the US. The author turns to the criminal thing like most media does, but it is alot easier to become involved in crime when times are getting hard and social institutions are not very accepting. Most of the arguments for not wanting Guatemalans are the same used by the US for not wanting illegal immigrants.


By Dennis Durband, Editor
March 28, 2005

This morning’s newspaper headline provides hope for the immigrants who want to cross the border: “Guatemala Publishes Guide for Illegal Aliens Entering Mexico.” The story explains that a guide published by the government of Guatemala provides advice for individuals going across the southern border of Mexico. "Crossing the border can be very risky, especially if you cross alone and at night," the guide says. "Heavy clothing grows heavier when wet and this makes it difficult to swim or float. . . . If you get lost, use power lines, train tracks or dirt roads as guides."

Furthermore: "By reading this guide," says Guatemala President Oscar Berger in the introduction, "you can also find out about basic legal issues concerning your stay in Mexico without the appropriate immigration documentation."

Guatemala printed 1.5 million copies of the guide, which instructs its citizens on the do’s and don’ts of entering and blending in to Mexico. "Do not throw stones or objects at the official or at the car, as this is considered a provocation of the officials. Your rights are: . . . To have water and food whenever you need it. . . . Not to state your migratory status when detained."

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. How arrogant of the Guatemalan government to blatantly thumb its nose at the national sovereignty of Mexico. This was compelling reading and my eyes quickly returned to the text

"Avoid calling attention to yourself, at least while you arrange your stay or documents for living in Mexico. Avoid loud parties. Avoid domestic violence. In Mexico, as in Guatemala, its is a crime."

What followed were the “justifications” for the invasion.

“We just need guest Guatemalan workers to do the jobs that Mexicans won’t do. We’ll introduce guest worker legislation in the Mexican federal legislative body.”
This sounds all too familiar.

“Anyone who opposes an influx of undocumented Guatemalan workers into Mexico is nothing more than a racist.”

This, too, has a familiar ring to it.

“Undocumented Guatemalan immigrants are just trying to help their families. We’ll make it easy for them to wire billions of pesos back home to their loved ones. They are greatly boosting the economy of Mexico.”

Yes, this line of reasoning has been tried here, too.

“To make it easy for the visiting Guatemalans to get the necessary IDs and documentation, Mexico must provide driver’s licenses for Guatemalan undocumented workers.”

Isn’t this a twist on what we hear up here north of the border?

“Guatemalan babies born in Mexico are to be recognized as Mexican citizens. Mexico must also provide free college tuition for the children of Guatemalan undocumented workers. Guatemalan students should be first in line at Mexican colleges.”

Mexico should not erect any walls on the southern border. President Berger will not tolerate it: "No country that is proud of itself should build walls ... it doesn't make any sense. We are convinced that walls don't work." This would seem to conflict with Guatemala’s official policy of sealing off its own southern border to Central America.
Guatemalan immigrants living in Mexico rallied in Chiapas yesterday and declared, “We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us!”

Previously, the Guatemalans for Open Borders (GOB) said that Southern Mexico is indeed a “Guatemalan territory.” They consider Southern Mexico “Guatamala Republica del Norte” – the Guatemalan Republic of the North.

Mexicans are growing increasingly distraught over the Guatemalan invasion and say their lives and livelihood have been disrupted by the unchecked invasion from the south. The “Sons of Santa Ana” group has arisen in order to peacefully monitor the southern border and help border patrol officials monitor Guatemalan intrusions. President Berger has denounced the group as “vigilantes” and filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, Guatemalan gangs threatened to go up to the border and teach a lesson to the Sons of Santa Ana.

Maria del Lupe Rodriguez, 87, still lives in the simple adobe home she was born in near the Chiapas-Guatemalan border. For most of her life, she enjoyed an active lifestyle with family and friends on her ranch and in her local community. But now, she must be indoors with her doors and windows barred and locked prior to sunset to ensure her safety from Guatemalans migrating northward, many of them criminals. She is living out her life in a veritable maximum security prison.

Many of the Guatemalan invaders are drug smugglers in the well-armed cocaine cartel. These dangerous drugs are getting into the hands of younger and younger Mexican children, virtually poisoning lives, school and communities.

Carjackings and home invasions are up in Mexico, and police authorities blame the rise in violent crime on illegal immigration.

Two more hospitals in Chiapas have closed this year due to the tidal wave of sick and dying illegals.

More and more cities in southern and central Mexico are opening day labor centers to help Guatemalan undocumented workers find work.

For the first time, Mexican lawmakers have begun to question the national policy of confirming citizenship on the children and families of illegals. Citizens are calling for more stringent border controls. Those calls have gone unheeded by a complicit government.

Mexico’s federal government is threatening to withhold funding from cities refusing to cooperate with the sanctuary program. The violent Mara Salvatrucha and La Mara gangs, from Central America, have completely taken over three small towns and two Indian villages in Chiapas, but due to the sanctuary law, the government has failed to provide protection to the local citizens. In many other Mexican communities, schools are being over-crowded by the children of undocumented workers and health services offices are being over-run.

Unemployment rates are up in most of Mexico’s southern states. Auto theft rates have risen through the roof, along with highway banditry. Mexican workers are being terminated in favor of cheap Guatemalan labor. Mexico’s welfare system has been stretched far beyond capacity, and many desperate citizens have turned to crime to support themselves and their families. Brush fires and pollution have scarred the countryside.

This is not the Mexico that Maria del Lupe Rodriguez and her generation grew up in. That Mexico is gone, never to return.

After taking oath, they're ready to vote: More than 1,000 new U.S. citizens

This article is very interesting because it shows that there is a bigger push to get people naturalized around the election of the president. One thing that I found to particularly interesting was that the man in the interview referred to his new country as “this country” instead of his country. In our book from class, we talked about how immigrants do not feel as if the U.S. is their country. Hopefully, after being naturalized, they will be able to see that their opinion matters. Voting does not always equal power, but it is a giant step in the direction of achieving it. Their usually is not a huge push to get immigrants involved into politics, because they cannot vote. With citizenship on their side, they can make an impact on their everyday lives.




Armando Rivera reached two civic milestones in one day Friday: He became a U.S. citizen, and he registered to vote.

"In my country, I was used to voting. I want to be able to vote in this country. I think it's an important right," said Rivera, who is from Mexico.

Right after the oath-taking ceremony, freshly sworn-in citizens swarmed a voting registration table set up by the League of United Latin American Citizens in the lobby of the El Paso convention center.

Elvia Hernandez, a district director at LULAC, was one of many volunteers manning the table.

"We almost always have a table, but usually people don't stop by," she said. "I think we're making people more aware of their right to vote. It was emphasized during the ceremony, and they see the (presidential) campaign on TV and they get excited."

Hernandez handed out "I registered to vote" stickers to at least 50 people, she estimated, including a 75-year-old woman.

More than 1,000 immigrants from 37 countries were naturalized in El Paso on Friday, including three U.S. soldiers originally from Mexico, Laos and Australia.

Veronica Montes, who became a citizen Friday, said she wanted to vote to make health care more affordable.

"I would like a lot of things to change," she said, "and this (voting) is the best way to change things."

http://origin.elpasotimes.com/ci_8817244