Is President Calderon Hypocritical?

Floor Speech

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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