Looks like Mexico is pretty mad! Oh dear, oh dear. Hate that.

ContraCostaTimes

By Jeremy Schwartz

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government pledged on Tuesday to file lawsuits if U.S. National Guard troops detain immigrants amid widespread condemnation in Mexico of President Bush’s plan to send 6,000 troops to the border.

Bush said in a speech Monday that the National Guard troops would only provide backup to U.S. Border Patrol agents — building fences and doing surveillance work — and would not detain or arrest immigrants.

Still, officials in Mexican President Vicente Fox’s government said they will be vigilant in making sure guard members do not cross the line into police enforcement.

“We want the assurance on the part of the U.S. government that the National Guard will not, in any case, do the work of the Border Patrol,” said Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal.

Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez told a Mexico City radio station that if the Mexican government detects such activity it will “immediately” file a lawsuit in U.S. courts through local Mexican consulates.

Despite the pledge, Fox’s government, which has handled the issue of immigration reform like a slippery Faberge egg, spent much of the day scrambling to take the sting out of Bush’s decision. Fox’s spokesman insisted to reporters that it does not amount to a militarization of the border, echoing statements from Bush.

Many analysts believe Fox is willing to trade enhanced U.S. border security for a comprehensive immigration plan that legalizes the status of undocumented workers in the United States, something on which he could stake his legacy.

A parade of senators, congressmen and political candidates tore into Bush’s plan, saying it threatens to violate Mexican sovereignty and would merely increase the profits of human smugglers. One party leader compared it to the actions of the Nazis and white South Africans during apartheid.

Like every news event in Mexico, Bush’s speech was seen through the lens of July’s competitive presidential election, with opposition parties seizing on the troop deployment to bash Fox and his ruling party.

Roberto Madrazo, candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party called Bush’s decision evidence of Fox’s failed foreign policy and mocked the Mexican president’s inability to influence the immigration debate in the United States.

The left-leaning Democratic Revolutionary Party, whose candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has watched what was thought to be an insurmountable lead in the polls evaporate in recent weeks, issued a blistering statement calling the deployment “xenophobic.”

“President Bush’s decision is unjustified, unacceptable and implies a serious aggression toward a sovereign nation,” the party said in a statement quoted by the Mexico City daily El Universal.

Even the candidate of Fox’s National Action Party criticized the move, saying such attempts at beefing up border security don’t work.

“They increase the human and social costs to the migrants and only benefit the criminal groups that make money off the hopes and suffering of those looking for a new opportunity,” said Felipe Calderon, who has taken a slight lead in the most recent presidential polls.

They call it ‘migration’ we call it ‘immigration’. They say ‘undocumented workers’, we say ‘illegal aliens’. They call Bush a ‘Nazi’, we think he wasn’t tough enough. They say this is ‘apartheid’, we say ‘oh, shut up and quit whinning’.

Sigh.

Why would Mexico feel they can flex their muscles over this? Mexico?

Of course, they are posturing for their own citizens, just like our officials do. But really, they know we won’t bomb them, so it’s a safe shot.

They can only posture like this against us because it’s safe and they perceive us as weak.

I still say we should annex Mexico, fix it and turn it into a tropical paradise for us to use. I love their coast lines.

What you wanna bet the ACLU will be offering to take up their lawsuit?

Oh - and while we’re at it - don’t rewrite our National Anthem!

Others posting on this: California Conservative (isn’t that an oxymoron?); Iowa Voice, Publius Rendezvous; Argghhh!; Mensa Barbie; Basil’s Blog