Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s speech to the joint session of the U.S. Congress yesterday was right on target. As Mexico’s head of state, it’s hardly surprising that he saw fit to express his opposition to the new Arizona law that allows local police to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the United States illegally; he called the law a “terrible idea” that uses “racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement.” This criticism gave some congressmen, like U.S. Sens. John McCain and John Cornyn, as well as several media outlets, an excuse to focus on the least important aspect of Calderón’s message: that a foreigner criticized U.S. domestic policy.
Calderón described how his government is addressing the security and immigration problems that affect both countries — highly contentious issues that form the cornerstone of the current U.S.-Mexico relationship. Mexico is doing its part to boost employment and economic growth through measures such as pension and fiscal reforms as well as through significant investment in infrastructure, Calderón said. “I am not a president who likes to see Mexicans leave our country searching for opportunities abroad. With migration, our communities lose their best people — the hardest working, the most dynamic, the leaders of the community.”
He also noted the tripling of the federal law enforcement budget to increase the size of the country’s forces and recruit a better-paid, better-trained and better-equipped police force. These steps accompany the main pillar of his administration’s security policy: unleashing all federal authorities, including the military, against the drug cartels that are plaguing Mexico.
Calderón praised President Obama’s recent initiative to reduce drug consumption and was grateful to Congress for approving the much-needed Merida Initiative. Fully aware of political sensitivities, he respectfully called for the U.S. Congress to restore a ban on assault weapons and to help stop the flow of guns into Mexico, which empower the violent drug cartels. He also called on Congress to reform the U.S. immigration system. “The time has come to reduce the causes of migration and turn this into a legal, orderly and secure flow of workers and visitors.”
McCain and Cornyn should have heard the speech as a call for help from a friend, a partner and their next door neighbor, rather than an intrusion on U.S. domestic policy. Instead of feeling defensive and attacking Calderón, they should do their part in working with other lawmakers to solve the security and migration problems shared by the United States and Mexico. That might include support for comprehensive immigration reform, which is currently stalled in Congress.
Erika de la Garza is the program director of the Latin American Initiative at the Baker Institute. Her chief areas of interest include U.S.-Latin American relations; emerging leadership; coalition building between public, private and civil society actors; and trade and business development in Latin America.