Mexico's Ambassador Sees Immigration Tension
By Tom Risen
Arturo Sarukhan
Mexico's ambassador to the U.S.
Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., Arturo Sarukhan, took time out from preparing for President Felipe Calderon's state visit to Washington next week to share his views on the immigration debate with NationalJournal.com. Edited excerpts follow.
NJ: How do you think the dialogue on immigration has been compared with how it was during the Bush administration?
Sarukhan: Bush was very strong on immigration. I think he fully understood the challenges that our two countries face in terms of labor mobility. As a former governor of Texas, he had seen firsthand the important contributions of migrants to the economic prosperity and the well-being and the ethnic vitality of the United States....Our most important asset in the ability to compete in the global economy... is that we take advantage of that fact that we have a capital-abundant country -- the United States -- living next to a labor-abundant country -- Mexico -- and creating the synergies our economies need to grow. I think President Bush understood this very well, and I think this president, President Obama, also understands absolutely well.
The obvious challenge today is that, with an economy in the shape that it's in, with job loss at the rate we've seen this last year, in an electoral year, this is a very polarizing issue. And it's going to be an issue that can only be addressed through bipartisan support.
NJ: How does the border look from your side, where you have this undocumented flow of people? It has got be a societal challenge.
Sarukhan: It's a huge challenge because for all those pundits who think this is an escape valve for Mexico, they've got it absolutely wrong. The only way Mexico is going to grow at a sufficient rate of growth to start bridging the economic asymmetries that exist between Mexico and the United States, which is one of the main triggers for illegal immigration, is if we can hold on to the 300,000 bold, entrepreneurial women and men who cross the border each year to the United States in search of a better-paying job. If we can't anchor that human capital in Mexico, we will not be able to grow. So our loss is your gain.
NJ: Arizona's new immigration law has refocused attention on the issue.
Sarukhan: We have to underscore that the law, as passed in Arizona, and the amending law that was passed a few days later, does open the door to racial profiling. And given that we have such a large Mexican-American and Mexican community, with and without papers, living in the United States, that this does undermine the civil rights of a very important chunk of our nationals in this country.It does pose a fundamental challenge to the well-being of the border region, to how Arizona and Sonora, its neighboring state on other side of the Mexican border, interact. And it is unfortunately, I think, more driven by electoral politics than by a real desire to solve the challenge of undocumented immigration.
NJ: How have you seen the politics of immigration change the past 10 years? Have you noticed a shift?
Sarukhan: There is a fundamental shift. First of all, Americans have become much more sophisticated and cognizant of the issues involved with immigration reform.If you had a discussion in Washington 10 years ago about how you go about changing immigration, there would have been very few people who would have understood the complexities and the components of what you need to do to get immigration reform right. Today, whether you're against it or you're for it, there's a much higher level of sophistication and knowledge of what's at stake.
The second one I think is that it is unfortunately becoming a much more partisan-driven issue. Whether it's real or not, the perception out there, especially in the Latino community -- again, I'm underscoring perceptions -- there is a general perception that the Republican Party has become anti-Latino....
It could become a critical wedge issue in the further of American politics and electoral processes, we'll see. I am convinced that both Republicans and Democrats have important issues and beliefs and principles... [on which] to engage with the Latino community.
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