[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8488]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IS PRESIDENT CALDERON HYPOCRITICAL?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Mexican President Felipe Calderon says 
he thinks Arizona's new illegal immigration enforcement law will open 
the door to ``intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law 
enforcement.'' Calderon's coming to the White House to talk to our 
President about it tomorrow. I wonder if they'll discuss whether or not 
Calderon supports his own country's immigration policy.
  Mr. Speaker, writer Michelle Malkin recently published some really 
interesting research on Mexican immigration laws. The Mexican 
Government bars any foreigner from immigrating to Mexico if they upset 
``the equilibrium of the national demographic.'' I wonder if President 
Calderon thinks that's racial or ethnic profiling. Mexican law further 
bars immigration unless a person enhances Mexico's ``economic or 
national interests.'' Immigrants are not welcome in Mexico if they're 
not ``physically or mentally healthy'' or if they show ``contempt 
against Mexico's national sovereignty or security.'' Imagine that.
  Immigrants to Mexico must have squeaky clean criminal histories. And 
to apply for Mexican citizenship, immigrants have to show a birth 
certificate, and they have to provide a bank statement that proves that 
they are economically independent. In other words, you can't go to 
Mexico and live off the Mexican Government. And they also have to prove 
they can pay for their own private health care.
  What are the penalties for failure to comply with Mexican immigration 
laws? Illegal entry into the country is equivalent to a felony 
punishable by 2 years' imprisonment. Document fraud is subject to fine 
and imprisonment; so is alien marriage fraud. Evading deportation is a 
serious crime in Mexico. Illegal reentry into Mexico after deportation 
is punishable by 10 years' imprisonment in a Mexican jail. Foreigners 
may be kicked out of the country without due process; that means 
without even being given a hearing. Mexico kicks out illegals without a 
deportation trial.
  Law enforcement officials in Mexico at all levels, by national law, 
must cooperate to enforce Mexico's immigration laws, including illegal 
alien arrests and deportations. That means Mexican states must enforce 
federal law, interestingly enough, yet President Calderon is a 
hypocrite and indignant that the State of Arizona would enforce U.S. 
immigration law. The Mexican military is also required to assist in 
immigration enforcement operations. Imagine that. And native born 
Mexicans--this is interesting to me--are empowered to make citizens' 
arrests of illegals in that country and turn them over to the 
government.
  In Mexico, get ready to show your papers. Mexico's national Catalog 
of Foreigners tracks all outside tourists and foreign nationals. A 
national population registry tracks and verifies the identity of every 
member of the population who must carry a citizens identity card, and 
visitors who do not possess the proper documents and identification are 
subject to arrest as illegals.
  All of these provisions are enshrined in Mexico's General Law of the 
Population and were revealed for the world to see in 2006 in a research 
paper published by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Security 
Policy. But there's been no public outrage from the open borders lobby 
for Mexican ``comprehensive immigration reform.'' You see, pro-illegal 
alien free speech in Mexico is illegal. Under the Mexican constitution, 
political free speech by foreigners doesn't happen because it's banned. 
Noncitizens cannot ``in any way participate in the political affairs of 
the country.'' They can't march in the streets in protest. Foreigners 
are barred in Mexico from participating in everything from education to 
even owning firearms. Foreigners in Mexico have severely limited 
private property and employment rights, if any.
  Mexico has long been doing the job of illegal alien deportation, and 
it seems to me it's hypocritical of Mexico and President Calderon to 
criticize the United States or Arizona for enforcing our illegal 
immigration laws. They are far less severe than Mexico's illegal 
immigration laws. So when President Calderon comes here tomorrow to 
complain about America and America's illegal immigration policy, 
perhaps Calderon would prefer America adopt Mexico's immigration 
policies.
  And that's just the way it is.

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