Mexico's Machinations

Patterico thinks this is rediculous.

So, the Mexican government is considering a lawsuit against the United States for the feeble attempts to control its side of the US/Mexico border. And anyone bother to check on the legality of such a lawsuit?

Does Mexico even have standing to sue on such matters? And wouldn't it be poetic justice if the US countersued Mexico for hundreds of billions of dollars in costs associated with the enforcement of US immigration law?

For all the blather and bloviations, this is yet another attempt for Mexican politicians to pander to the hard left and the Mexican underclass who keep fleeing to the US to seek a better way of life. Mexico's government is pushing their problems onto the US, and when the US tries to enforce its own sovereignty, the Mexican government prints up pamphlets on how to avoid being caught by the US Border Patrol.

And for all this the Administration is being attacked from the right as being too lenient on the Mexican government. The problem is that a pushback that is too hard might turn the Mexicans even further to the Left. The Mexican government reaction is a direct result of Mexico's impending elections in July.

Mexican politicians almost universally condemned a plan by the US President, George Bush, to send 6000 National Guard troops to the border.

They claimed the move threatened Mexico's sovereignty and would merely increase the profits of people smugglers.

Like all news events in Mexico, Mr Bush's speech on Tuesday was linked to July's presidential election, with opposition parties seizing on the troop deployment to attack President Vicente Fox and his ruling party.

Mr Fox's Government has scrambled to take the sting out of Mr Bush's proposal, insisting that it does not amount to a militarisation of the border.

The Foreign Secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, sought to play down the rhetoric when he appeared on morning television. "This is not a declaration of war, it's not an invasion," he said.

Many analysts believe Mr Fox is willing to trade enhanced border security for a comprehensive immigration plan that legalises the status of illegal workers in the US.

The problem is that we already have numerous programs for dealing with temporary workers in the US. New programs wont fix that - it will only add to the number of programs that aren't properly enforced or managed.