Yucatán helping migrants go north (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0218migrantguide.html)
Guide, DVD show Mexicans how to cross border, send cash home

I'm still not sure this isn't a joke... in fact I don't really know what to say about it.

Its a state published guide to getting across that border through any means possible. It includes the process of applying for a visa, and the process of crossing the Arizona desert:

"After passing through Lukeville, you will cross through a national park where you will find tanks of water," one section says. "If the smuggler decides to walk beyond the park, you will travel on paths where there is no Border Patrol but in places where military exercises are conducted."That being said, I'm actually going to be in Mexico on Friday, maybe I can score a copy!

I've seen references to this kind of thing in several places, so I don't think it's a joke.

I certainly don't like it. Shouldn't they be spending government money on giving their people reasons to stay rather than showing them how to do illegal things to leave?

Well, Mexico seems to get a lot of money from Mexicans working in the US (16.6 billion dollars last year), so as the nation gradually becomes richer and richer they can do more to let people stay, Mexico is acting like a leech sucking blood from it's victim.

Mexico's secondary source of income is money sent home from America. They're trying to invest in that and make a larger pool of immigrants that send the more valuable American currency home. Sucks for us. I get the feeling that quite a lot of California's deficit has to do with this.

I'm not surprised that the source was an Arizona newspaper. From what I hear Arizona is getting close to armed revolt to keep the Mexicans out. The citizenry are very upset that their tax dollars are being spent on people they don't even want in the country instead of defending the border.

Hmm. I suppose I need to make a video in order to show my government how to prevent illegal migration. I think I'll title it, "After mining the border...."

The US needs Mexican and other countries workers to keep those Walmart goods (but not limited to Walmart) at a 'low-low' price. Thats why 90% get through the boarder. They only catch a small amount to please the US citizens...

Damn, someone from N. Ireland understands this issue better than the vast majority of Americans: that is embarrassing.

Everyone is so divided on this issue that they can't see the solution when it is right in front of their faces.

The fact is, we need cheap labor, and Hispanic workers are a readily available resource. It seams obvious to me that the solution is to close the borders, take applications, and allow a certain number of registered workers to stay for a limited time (a 1 year or 5 year permit). This would allow us to know who is here and what they are doing. It would also allow us to set the expectations of what rights and benefits these workers would be entitled to.

There are quite a few checks and balances that will be necessary to prevent these people from becoming a de facto sub-class citizens, but I think that if we could forget the political party lines for a while we could come up with something that is not only better for the US, but for these workers as well.

There is an alternative approach - open immigration. Interesting opinion on that, here: The Case for Unilateral Free Trade and Open Immigration (http://www.amatecon.com/etext/cftoi/cftoi-ch01.html)

I have an "alternative" approach. I say we guard our borders like Germany guards it's borders.

Anyway, Somethingawful (http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2597) has the good stuff that everyone wants. It's a pretty decent read, and worth a couple of laughs.
(note -- To the best of my knowledge (by blocking referrers), that Somethingawful link is "safe")

Nothing wrong with our aproach to secure our borders today.

I'm happy that you didn't say east-german.

When Ragusa's paycheck is tapped to cover the medical insurance of 'undocumented workers', we'll discuss that then.

There are too many workers here already who are willing to accept work...we no longer need to attract more.

Do Germans guard their borders ? I thought the only border the German guard to today is the border to us. All others, I thought are under the sway of free market and free immigration of the Schengen-treaty. Yeah, free market and it's ramifications and implications is a scary, scary thing.

This is an interesting article from ABC one possible solution to the immigration problem we in the USA are having.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=518371

I know a few people who live in the city of Merida and have been myself recently. They have never heard anything about this before. They say it's quite obviously fake. For whatever reason I don't know. Nothing coming from America surprised me in the slightest anymore.

Merida? Great city, wouldn't it be for the climate ... it's like a blast furnace in the summer, with high humidity and barely any wind. The city itself, is great however - you always get a special "no bad gringo-price - special price for Germans" there :shake: no kidding, btw ;) (I bet they ripped me off anyway).

Really very nice people there. And then there's :beer: Leon Negra :beer: ... And this nice hotel owned by this crazy brit ... :)

And as for the topic, yes, it indeed could be a plant - like this very obvious one (http://communistsforkerry.com/) (never thought GOP folks could actually be funny).

There are many people in the U.S. who are afraid of immigration (http://www.stoptheinvasion.com/borders/borders14.html) - why not fuel their cause by faking such a guide? That would be entirely plausible.

What strikes me as somewhat odd is that this guide was issued by mexian authorities - who should know better than pissing off the big northern neighbour.

But then, it's Mexico. Their claim to do this to help their citizens, who go to the U.S. anyway, and to inform them about the risks of getting in touch with smugglers could be well correct, like: If you can't change it, try to reduce the harm.

[ March 07, 2005, 21:24: Message edited by: Ragusa ]