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 Post subject: Interview of Mexican Consul Juan Solana
PostPosted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:37 pm 
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I found this interview to be somewhat confusing. I'm left with a lot of questions. Solana spouts the usual propaganda that we are friends and partners and must work together. What is Mexico actually doing besides demanding that we employ and educate their people? What are the specifics?

http://www.tribtown.com/news/solana_722 ... xican.html

Consul: Illegals 2-sided problem
March 31, 2008 - 10:36AM
By ZACH SPICER

America's illegal immigration issue isn't one-sided.

Mexico also has an immigration problem, and U.S. and Mexican officials must work together to resolve the problems, Mexican Consul Juan Solana said at a press conference Saturday in Seymour. [What is Mexico doing to resolve these problems besides demanding that we employ and educate their people? How many jobs have they created in Mexico? How are they trying to stop illegal immigration from Mexico in to the USA?]

As a consulate, Solana serves in many functions, but the overall goal is to "guarantee the human rights and the civil rights of the Mexicans."[He guarantees their rights in the USA, not in Mexico. Legality doesn't matter to him when it comes to entering the USA. Mexicans don't need to bother with the responsibilities of obeying our laws. All they need to do is get here and then they can demand the full protection of our laws. Legal and illegal doesn't matter to him. All that matters is that they are Mexican. Mexicans apparently don't thave the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in Mexico.]

Solana, who began working in Indiana in February, and others were available Saturday at the Jackson County Education Center in Seymour for people from near and far to obtain passports and consulate identifications. He also held a press conference.

Solana said a consulate works with documents and paperwork related with the Mexican government, including passports, identification cards, visas, powers of attorney, birth certificates and death certificates, among other things.

"Because we are the Mexican government, we don't ask people here if they have documents," Solana said.
"That's not our business," Solana added. "They have to take care of that. I have to take care of every single Mexican national that's here. By Mexican law, that's my job." [Bottom line, is he will keep helping illegal aliens because it's his job.]

Another responsibility of a consulate is to ensure the Mexican community receives certain services, such as education and health.[...in the USA, at taxpayer expense.]

Solana said of the 110 million people in Mexico, half are younger than 21 years old. With that much education needed, it can be difficult to offer, he said. One success is the English as a second language program, which is "where we believe that the people are (in the United States), they must integrate into society the best they can." [It costs Indiana over $408 million a year to educate some 42,000 ESL students, half of whom will drop out. According to the IN Dept. of Education website, the vast majority of ESL students speak Spanish as their primary languange.]

Culture, business and politics are also issues a consulate tries to provide to the Mexican population.

On the business aspect, Solana believes Mexico has a lot to offer.

"We are here to increase business. For us, to increase business is very important," he said. "Because we understand we're in a global economy, an increase of business is going to bring more wealth to everybody. Mexico buys from the United States more than Germany, Italy, France, Spain and England put together. We are one of your most important clients, and we can keep making it grow and grow together."

With politics, Solana said, a consulate is "here to represent Mexico and the people. We try to establish contacts with local authorities, local people to see what we need to do together so we can work together."

That ties into the issues of immigration and border security.

"We have a lot of people who are coming (into the United States from Mexico)," he said. "We are doing our best to stop that. [How?]We know we have not done enough yet and we are going to work very hard to do more." [How? These are empty words.]

Solana said Mexico's changing demographics is one cause of that. With more people going into the workforce, and at a younger age, "It's very difficult to create those jobs in Mexico. We are creating about maybe half the jobs that are needed. We're doing our best to keep the kids in school because it's a second way we can reduce pressure on the labor market, and at the same time, (to make sure that) those that go into the labor market are productive."

Mexico has even gone as far as providing up to $250 to rural and poor families to keep their kids in school, [Where? In Mexico or in the USA?] Solana said. Otherwise, those kids begin working at a young age, and by doing that, "We are destroying the future of the kids. That's why we have this program. We have to increase education."

When people can't find work in their own country, Solana said, they sometimes go elsewhere, such as the United States.

"We have a huge market in the United States for jobs," he said, which leads to "hunger" [jealousy? coveting?] for the people. "Hunger exists and it's very strong. You have to see for the future of your family. [The Mexican family is more important than the American family.] You're going to do the best to try to get your family to become better."
One benefit of that ties into business.

"People learn capital, learn new techniques and how to do business, and they bring all these back to Mexico and start business there," he said, "and that helps the Mexican economy to transform."

A push by the Mexican government will, he hopes, relieve the immigration issue, Solana said.

"If people decide to immigrate, it's got to be a necessity, not a need," he said. "We are working hard on that. There's nothing the Mexican government can do in the United States. The United States has to decide that."

Solana said three laws would help that, with one ensuring workers are here "orderly and legally," [We have immigration laws that do that now, but Mexico ignores them.]one helping the people who are in the United States from Mexico [Amnesty?] and one dealing with the border issue [Eliminate the border?].

Border security involves Mexico just as much as the United States, Solana said. People are finding alternate ways to get into the country, instead of taking a direct road. Problems aren't alleviated with the various types of organized crime in Mexico, drug trafficking and armaments coming into the country. [The richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, lives in Mexico. Mexico has a lot of wealth even though most of it never trickles down to the masses. Still, they expect the USA to pay $1.4 billion to help them fight the war on drugs in Mexico.]

"We have to talk openly about these problems," Solana said. "The money that those drugs generate are now destroying our society, and we have to change that and we cannot accept that under any circumstances. The war we have been fighting against drugs has had more people dying than every single (U.S.) soldier lost in Iraq. This is, for us, a very significant war."

Those are things the Mexican government is working on, but it takes effort on all sides, he said.

"We have taken a couple cases and we have managed to destroy that and we are going to keep working on that, but we need the support of the United States," Solana said of problems at the border.

"You have problems, we have problems," Solana said. "We have to work together on this. We have to remember in this equation, we are on different parts of the problem and that we are partners, friends, and we want to work together with you. (The United States) is so great because it's a very understanding and smart country."

Bill Bailey of the Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce asked Solana if, in Indiana, he "sensed a spirit of at least interest in cooperation" in the American and Mexican populations.

"Not completely," Solana said, but he said he's working on getting out to communities to ensure people are working together and integrating.

"I believe there are people who are afraid because they don't know who these people are," Solana said of people's reaction to immigrants. "We cannot hate each other, and I believe a little bit of that hate does exist. Mistrust, lack of knowledge, and we are afraid of what we don't know. We have to break that. Integrate with your community, know your neighbors. We have to reach out. We have to integrate."


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