What Arrogance!

Steve Sailer comments on this New York Times Op-Ed by former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Casteneda. This is a former Mexican foreign minister writing in an American newspaper telling us what our immigration policy ought to be. What arrogant presumption.

At first, I read Sailer's excerpts from the Op-Ed, and it is basically a list of demands. Now, when I read the excerpts over at Sailer's I assumed there had to be more -- Castenada had to make some argument as to why these demands would be good for the United States, why we should accept them. Nope. He just says what Mexico wants, and give us no indication as to why we should, you know, care.

His list of objections to the bill is particularly arrogant:

First, it has unduly harsh enforcement provisions at the border and the workplace, which will undoubtedly generate abuses and mistreatment. Still, if every Mexican in the United States who arrived before Jan. 1, 2007, is legalized, enforcement inside the United States, including discriminatory raids, will become redundant. And if nearly everyone who wants to go north can obtain a guest-worker visa, there will be no need to cross illegally and face rough treatment at the border.

A second objectionable feature is the steep fines
and fees in the Senate bill: up to $5,000. While this is not cheap, it’s also not much more than the “coyote” charges to smuggle a migrant across the border.

The last objection is more substantive; it is, in fact, a potential deal breaker. The Senate voted last week to cut the number of guest worker slots to 200,000 from 400,000. The earlier figure would have allowed roughly the same number of workers who now cross illegally to obtain guest status. But if the final law has too few slots, it will not end illegal immigration, but simply perpetuate the status quo.

Deal Breaker? DEAL BREAKER? Listen Mr. Foreign Minister, this isn't a treaty, it's a law passed by the United States Congress dealing with a purely domestic matter. You aren't a party to the deal. If we want to close the border, we have that right to do that. And if you're worried about the "rough treatment" your citizens receive at the borders, well, you can try to stop them from coming here illegally yourself, rather than aiding and abetting them. Or you could actually try to fix the problems of your own country, so that illegals don't want to come here.

But leave aside his arrogance for a moment, and look at what he wants. He doesn't want any sort of tough enforcement. He doesn't want illegals to have to pay any fines or suffer any consequences. And he wants a guest-worker program that lets in the same number who come her illegally anyway. In other words, he wants us to legalize all past illegal immigrants, and to prevent future illegal immigrants by just letting everybody in who wants to come.

And he says this bill gives him nearly everything he wants.