Mexico President Calderon Brings "Divide and Conquer" Tour To USA

Mexican Presidente Felipe Calderon is in the United States, checking up on the health of his country's safety net. Remittances from immigrants - particularly illegal immigrants - are a huge source of wealth for Mexico, and so the lobbyist President is here lobbying for immigration reform.

Officially, 26 of Mr. Calderón's 34 events from New York City, Boston, Chicago to Sacramento and Los Angeles are behind closed doors, according to his agenda, which was only delivered to reporters after he arrived in New York City on Sunday night.

At every stop, he has scheduled meetings with top local and state officials, some of whom have direct links to presidential candidates.

In other words, he is here lobbying. Despite the constant rhetoric about "not interfering in a country's affairs," he is interfering. That is the whole purpose of this trip... to fuck with American politics.

In California, Mr. Calderón will meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Calderón and his wife, Margarita Zavala, will meet with the state's first lady, Maria Shriver, who recently endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"The trip has a political agenda that's aimed at helping shape the agenda for an incoming president," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, a Washington-based political consultant at Peschard & Associates.

Dallas News

He is not meeting personally with any of the presidential candidates, but he is urging them not to scapegoat immigrants or use them as "symbolic hostages in their speeches and strategies."

"The worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant perception of people," he said Monday, after giving a speech at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "We need to contain this."

SFGate

The Mexican president wants help improving his country's tattered image by drawing attention to the economic contributions of many of his 12 million countrymen.

And that's OK with Paula Mercado, a cook at a deli at Penn Station in New York City.

"Anything that helps convince Americans that we're not the terrorists who want to destroy their country is welcome. Adelante," she said, meaning "go right ahead."

That's it, isn't it?

So... start convincing! I am sure folks like Mercado are sincere. I for one would be elated to see Mexicans acknowledge that this is OUR COUNTRY and WE HAVE THE RIGHT to decide who gets in. I don't see that from the Mexicans. What I see is a lot of whining, demanding, and race-baiting. I also see a lot of subtle Aztlan-y rhetoric from the La Raza types all over the country. They might not be shouting it from the rooftops, but they're thinking it. The fact is that many Mexicans believe that the USA is their land, and don't need our approval to be here... and certainly don't feel any need to conform in even the slightest way to our culture.

We need to deal in a constructive manner with those illegal immigrants who are not terrorists and don't want to destroy the USA.

BUT... those immigrants who ARE terrorists and DO want to destroy the USA (such as Elvira Arellano and her ilk) need to be dealt with... swiftly and harshly.

There is no room in this country for immigrants - legal or illegal - who do not wish to become part of it.

There is no room in this country for immigrants who won't assimilate.

There is no room for people who do not acknowledge the dominant culture of this country, and do not seek to work within that culture's morals and laws.

These people need to go the fuck back to where they came from, be it Mexico or wherever. And if they won't go back voluntarily, they should be REMOVED!