Talk-show host Charlie Rose recently interviewed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who refused to take full responsibility for the illegal immigrants that are coming from Mexico into the United States. Mr. Pena Nieto blamed Central American countries for the influx, stating that neither Mexico nor its lengthy border with the U.S. is the problem; rather, the problem lies with Central Americans from Guatemala, Honduras and elsewhere using Mexico as a pass-thru to the United States.
Mr. Rose pressed the president, asking him how he planned to handle the problem of illegal immigration to America. Mr. Pena Nieto used double speak, stating, on the one hand: “This is not a new phenomenon. But what is different from the past is the increasingly growing number of children. It’s almost a two-fold increase in just a few months of the number of children that are trying to reach the United States. Mexico has perhaps, in some ways, a good practice, in which it has officials devoted precisely to hold those children, to retain those children that are crossing through our territory, who are coming from Central America. And when they are repatriated, they’re not only sent to their places of origin, but they’re accompanied by … immigration officials.
“Mexico has shelters, which care for children trying to cross the border, who have no company with them. On this issue, we have to say that Mexico has taken steps and it’s still enforcing this policy to care for unaccompanied minor children. But this high number we’ve seen in recent months — because this is something that just started happening recently. This has led us to have a dialogue and agreement with the U.S. government and with the Central American countries from where they come. And the commitment was made for all of us to take upon ourselves the responsibility to be acting in a more responsible fashion, so that gangs of organized crime are not using those minors … I think most of the time, they’re victims. This is a consequence of the abuse of criminal gangs that are devoted to trafficking with children, or to take migrants to the United States.”
That is what Mexico’s president said in the wide-ranging interview that initially aired July 1st.
In actuality, Mr. Pena Nieto hiding behind rhetoric. When the city of Murrieta in California received three busloads of children and adults from Texas and Mexico, he essentially went into hiding, making no official or unofficial statements regarding the migrants or their protectors over their status. To date, Mr. Pena Nieto has failed to make any statement about this matter. It is ironic that, in a world that either demands that America fix the world’s problems or conversely screams that she should mind her own business, the world seems remarkably quiet on this subject.
Illegal immigration is not solely an American problem. England, the Netherlands, China, and even Mexico all have issues with persons sneaking across their borders. However, First World nations have to take responsibility for all of their own domestic issues.
America has enough problems with unemployment, housing shortages, school overcrowding and low test scores, and a bloated welfare state — issues all fueled and worsened by illegal immigration — without taking on Mexico’s inability to rein in its own rampant immigration issues.
America no longer can afford to be the savior of the world. Nations need to tend to their own issues — especially Mexico and its Central American neighbors.
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