Joseph L. Shaefer
November 14, 2020
I read a blurb a while back from an unnamed Mexican government official that I found somewhat strange since the illegal entry into the sovereign nation called the United States of America is today less comprised of Mexican citizens than it is of citizens of Central American and other nations.
He was pointing out that America was the “attractant” because of the way in which poor people from other nations could find honest work at below typical US wages and then send a portion of their wages back to families around the world. If the US would stop this practice, it would not have a problem.
Since he was lecturing others on the policies of the US, I decided to research what the policies of the United Mexican States might be regarding immigration. Under the heading of “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones,” here is what I found in the Constitution of the United Mexican States:
* Assembly & voting: Non-citizens are proscribed from voting or being counted in any census or other political act in Mexico. To wit: "Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country." -- Article 33
* Employment: "Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners...for all…employments, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable.”
* Religion: "Religious ministers cannot hold public offices, according to the statutory law. As citizens, religious ministers have the right to vote, but they do not have the right to be elected.” -- Article 130
“Church ministers cannot join together for political purposes nor proselytize in favor of certain candidate, party or political association or against them. Neither may they oppose the laws of the Nation or its institutions, nor insult patriotic symbols in any form, in public meetings, in worship or in religious literature.” -- Article 130
* Property rights:
“The property of all land and water within national territory is originally owned by the Nation, who has the right to transfer this ownership to particulars. Hence, private property is a privilege created by the Nation.” — Article 27
"Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and their appurtenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters… Under no circumstances may foreigners acquire direct ownership of lands or waters within a zone of one hundred kilometers along the frontiers and of fifty kilometers along the shores of the country." -- Article 27
* Political representation: Foreign-born, even if naturalized, Mexican citizens may not become legislators. They must “be a Mexican national by birth.” (Article 55). This also applies to any of the cabinet-level secretaries of state (Article 91) or supreme court justices (Article 95). All must be a citizen by birth.
The president of Mexico (as in the US) must be a citizen by birth, but in Mexico his or her father or mother must also have been Mexican-born, thus preventing a first-generation immigrant, many of whom have held elective office in the US, the right to serve.
* Gaining citizenship via military service: Standard in the US, it can’t happen in Mexico. "During peacetime, foreigners shall neither serve in the Army nor in the police or security bodies. During peacetime, only Mexicans by birth can serve in the Army, in the Navy or in the Air Force…
“The same condition applies to captains, pilots, skippers, ship engineers, flight engineers and, in general, to every crew member in a ship or an airplane carrying the Mexican flag. In the same way, only Mexicans by birth can be port harbormasters, steersmen and airport superintendents” -- Article 32
* Citizens’ arrest of illegals: Given the hue and cry about American citizens watching and reporting illegal entry into the US, it may be of interest to note Mexican law on this issue: "In cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities..." -- Article 16
* Expulsion / due process: Foreigners may be expelled from Mexico after a hearing. This sounds pretty much like the US take on this issue… "The President of the Republic shall have the power to expel from national territory any foreigner, according to the law and after a hearing.” -- Article 33. (The difference being that certain US states, counties and cities have rendered this law in the US toothless in their areas.)
My intent is not to insult the Mexican constitution. Mexico, like every other nation -- including the US -- has the right to control its borders and regulate resident non-citizens from other nations. But none of us can speak out of both sides of our mouth and expect such double-talk to go unreported upon.
Indeed, I believe in more , not less, immigration. It is an absolute strength that sets America apart from most other nations. I do not even want to see solely skill-based immigration, or immigration for those with the financial wherewithal to bring enough money to start a business to hire native-born workers.
Without immigration, at all levels of the economic strata including the poorest, the US would become a nation of the elderly like most of anti-immigration Europe states, Japan, and the most egregiously anti-foreign and anti-immigrant nations of the Peoples Republic of China and Russia. Demographics are destiny.
The US needs more immigrants. We need those who want to work for a better life for themselves and their children. If they come in with extensive resources, either financial, educational or social, fine. But if they come in with nothing but a burning desire to work hard and keep the fruits of their labors, also fine with me.
I look at the roster of small business owners who sleep in the back of their store and eat soup and bread so their kids can go to college, and I am overwhelmed by their level of sacrifice.
I see start-up company founders, inventors, religious, social and, in time, political leaders and I am amazed, though not surprised, that these successful Americans once held a different passport.
Source: The Oxford Eagle, Oxford, Mississippi
If you want to see the real face of legal immigration, attend the next swearing-in of new American citizens in the town nearest you where such are held. It will bring a tear to your eye to see the joy in their faces when they lower their right hand and it strikes them: “Dear God, I am now an American.”
I rejoice in what I see in the eyes of America’s newest citizens.
As for the criticism from other nations, I take in stride. I am not singling out Mexico because of the words of one minor official. I merely point out that, while all nations have their good and not-so-good rules, regulations and laws, I will contrast the US Constitution’s take on all the above with any of them, anytime.
© JL Shaefer 2020