March 6, 2004
A Chip Off of
National Sovereignty
By Richard
Baldwin/HispanicVista.com
I am on record in criticizing many of
our politicians when they howl about
loosing our national sovereignty when in
fact the real reason is to cover up
national ineptness. But move over
gentlemen, today I join you on this
issue.
Not too long ago, it
was discovered that US
federal agents were at our
airports working on checking passengers
departing México for the US. In fact,
several flights were either delayed or
canceled at the request of the US agents.
Of course there were cries of national
sovereignty raised because of the
presence of these foreign agents
operating on Mexican soil.
The explanation was
that México had signed a treaty with the
US earlier (with little fanfare) which
allowed the participation of US federal
agents to assist in monitoring and
advising on our screening processes at
airports where departures for the US are
made. These agents have no arrest or
supervisory powers, only to assist and
advise. OK, this makes sense, and this is
being done with other countries as well (England,
Spain and France come to mind) and that
is part of living in the new world of
international terror.
But the disturbing
thing is that when both countries signed
this treaty, so little fanfare was made.
Most of México only realized that
something was going on when the presence
of the FBI was noticed in December.
But to the point:
Something new has come up.
The US Secretary of
Homeland and Security, Tom Ridge, was in
México in the week of 16 February. You
will know that Mr. Ridge is the head of
the newest and according to some critics,
most bloated bureaucracy in the US. This
took over the old INS, Customs and a bevy
of other former government agencies.
It seems that
México and the US have agreed "in
principle" to sign a new
"border security treaty". While
most of the details are yet to be
announced, the one that is attracting
attention is "interior
repatriation". What this means is
that illegal immigrants that are
apprehended in the US would not just sent
back to the Mexican frontier. They would
be sent back to their homes in the
interior.
The US is asking for
the Mexican authorities to transport
these people with or without their
desires to where they originated from in
México. The Mexican view of this as
stated by Santiago Creel, our Interior
Minister, is that this be voluntary by
those affected. Good luck, Mr. Creel.
But a much larger
point is being ignored here. While I am
on record in stating that the major
culprit of the illegal immigration
problem is México itself in our
inability to create a national economy
that can provide meaningful jobs for its
people, we also have some constitutional
freedoms that are in jeopardy here.
In México, we enjoy
freedom of movement here to go when and
where we want without any hindrance or
permission from Big Brother. This is not
the old Soviet Union, or even modern China.
In other words, this is a free country.
What we would be agreeing to is to arrest
(in fact) Mexican citizens who have not
violated any Mexican law and forcibly
transport them to a destination not of
their choosing without trial or appeal.
Who is supposed to
pay for this "service"? It
would seem that the Mexican taxpayers
would pick up the tab. Is this fair?
And there is
something else too. How many terrorists
have been apprehended trying to enter the
US from México? And how many from Canada?
There seems to be some inequality here my
friends, as this is in the name of
anti-terror operations. Our record so far
is zero. Not so from Canada. But the US
has made no proposals of this sort to Canada.
But, I guess this is
part of the mouse trying to sleep next to
the elephant. But this is one that
México should never give in to.
_____________________________________
Richard N. Baldwin T., a
HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com)
contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla,
Edo de México E-mail at: R1041643422@aol.com
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