According to the Associated Press, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has condemned Arizona’s new immigration law and called it discriminatory and warned that relations with the U.S. border state will suffer.
In a statement, Calderón said that the new state law “opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement.”
The controversial immigration law is set to take effect in late July or early August and would make it a crime under state law to be in the U.S. illegally. It would give state and local police the ability to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal. Many fear this will lead to racial profiling.
The Mexican President has instructed the Foreign Relations Department to strengthen efforts to protect the rights of Mexicans living in the States and has urged them to seek help from attorneys and immigration experts.
At a speech at the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, Calderon said, “Nobody can sit around with their arms crossed in the face of decisions that so clearly affect our countrymen.”
The Arizona law comes after increased dialogue and focused cooperation on U.S.-Mexico relations and the drug war. Calderon is expected to travel to the U.S. this coming month to meet with President Obama.
First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to Mexico two weeks ago in her first solo trip abroad and met with Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala, and spoke about a need for comprehensive immigration reform.
Although, Calderon said trade and political ties with Arizona will be “seriously affected,” he did not announce specific measures.
Andres Ibarra, president of the chamber of commerce in Nogales said that he doubted the government would implement a formal trade boycott, because in reality it would affect Mexico most.
Arizona is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the nation’s busiest point of entry for immigrants.
As reported in AZCentral, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, signed the bill and said that Arizona must act because Washington has failed to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs from Mexico.
President and general Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Thomas Saenz said, “If every state had its own laws, we wouldn’t be one country; we’d be 50 different countries.”
I’m glad he has come out and said something on the matter. This is a ridiculous policy and law. Makes me ashamed to be a native of Arizona and a Latino. Major League Baseball, which, of course, has a large number of Latin American players, is scheduled to play its midsummer classic in Phoenix in 2011…thoughts?
When Arizona was the only state that wouldn’t recognize Martin Luther King Day even U2 spoke out and refused to play concerts in the state. We need to make sure that groups, artists, professional sports, etc. recognize that this is just as insulting to our community and need to join us in condemning these actions.
What must be organized is an organized group or groups to protect our Latinos human rights in the new world. Latinos coming together as one can work, if we have the same vision and knowing that it well takes sacrifice and even lives. We must understand that watching from the side lines is not the answer, we must take up our arms and fight for freedom.