This is the weekly selection of news
and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media. Today we
look at reaction to the immigration bill that passed the Senate Thursday. Sources are The News
(Mexico) website and Mother Jones.
“The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources--because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.” - Lyndon B. Johnson
A compromise
bipartisan immigration bill passed the US Senate this past Thursday by
a vote of 68-32. It combines a path to citizenship with $40 billion
in "border security" measures thrown in to try to bring in
more Republican votes. As the Senate bill was being debated,
Mexico's Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade noted that the bill
"could benefit the millions of Mexican immigrants who make
contributions each day to the prosperity and development of the
United States." But he had some reservations about the 700 mile
fence... “We are convinced that fences do not bring people
together,” Meade said, adding that, “Fences are not the solution
to the phenomenon of immigration and are not consistent with a modern
and safe border.” [The News (Mexico)]
"We’ll be the most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall." - John McCain
Ricardo Castillo in a
July 27 post in The News wrote "Hardcore conservative U.S.
Senators have conveniently forgotten Ronald Reagan's history making
June 1987 statement at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: 'Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' Now they have inserted a wall of
their own in the Immigration Reform Bill. Seen from a
psychoanalytical point of view, the wall on the Mexican border, along
with a Communist East German-like police guarding it, is a
revisitation of the southern U.S.A.'s secession in the 1860s."
“I take issue with many people's description of people being "Illegal" Immigrants. There aren't any illegal Human Beings as far as I'm concerned.” - Dennis Kucinich
In spite of its
wasteful border surge provision, which was bad enough to cause the
Latino advocacy group Presente.org to withdraw its support for a bill
that is "guaranteed to increase death and destruction through
increased militarization of the border.", the Senate measure
faces an uncertain future in the House which has been preparing its
own harsher version of an immigration bill. Again from The News:
"Far-reaching immigration legislation cruised toward passage in
the Senate as House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday on a different
approach that cracks down on millions living in the United States
illegally rather than offering them a chance at citizenship."
Two bills have passed through the relevant House committee. The
first makes it a new crime to remain in the country without legal
status, allows state and local governments to enforce federal
immigration laws, and encourages those living in the United States
unlawfully to depart voluntarily. "The second bill that cleared
last week deals with farm workers who come to the United States
temporarily with government permission. Unlike the Senate
legislation, it offers no pathway to citizenship."
"In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 0.8% of the U.S. population was of American Indian or Alaska Native descent." - Wikipedia entry on "Native Americans in the United States"
Mother Jones
notes that the House GOP now
faces its "moment of truth." Gavin Aronsen in a June 27 post writes: "Bipartisan talks regarding immigration reform have
repeatedly stalled in the lower chamber, and House Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio) has found himself in a tight spot, forced to choose
between alienating millions of Latino voters—a key constituency the
Republican Party is trying to court—and appeasing tea party
lawmakers who oppose a pathway to citizenship. The coming weeks,
before Congress recesses for the month of August, will be a
make-or-break moment for the House GOP."
“Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.” - Carlos Fuentes
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