Ruminations of an Expatriate

Archive for the ‘Immigration’ Category

USA Immigration and Drug Policies Breed Corruption

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

The New York Times today includes a report of corruption in the Customs and Border Protection division of the Fatherland Security Department. Yesterday’s edition carried a report of corruption within Mexican police agencies wrought by the war on drugs destined for the immense, and growing, USA market.

The reports, it seems, provide further evidence that the prohibition of drugs and denial of visas to poorer Mexicans and other Latin Americans whose labor is in demand in the USA enables a lucrative smuggling industry, the proceeds of which a growing number of law enforcement personnel, in both Mexico and the USA, find hard to resist.

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“American Shame”

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

May I recommend to you this post at the From Xico blog relating to undocumented immigration to the USA and “Sheriff Joe” and his vigilantes.

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Immigration

Monday, January 14th, 2008

One of the chief factors motivating the immigration of folks from less economically developed countries to more developed nations, conveniently ignored by the anti-immigrant crowd, such as the ever frothing Lou Dobbs, is “first world” economic predation.

The From Xico blog reminds us that USA taxpayer agricultural subsidies to agricultural conglomerates enable them to undersell indigenous subsistence farmers in their home lands, thus driving them off their land in search of other sources of income. Many move to cities in their home country’s, others immigrate in response to market demands for labor in other lands.

Then there is this International Herald Tribune article reporting on the scouring, by a “vast flotilla of industrial trawlers from the European Union, China, Russia and elsewhere…”, of traditional African fishing grounds, upon which locals have relied for their subsistence. With the fish gone, there has been an increase in African immigration to Europe.

The “mean rapacity”, as Adam Smith put it, of the practitioners of unrestrained capitalism leaves no room for concern with the plight of the victims of those practices, nor for the sustainability of such practices.

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Dealing With Mexican Immigration Authorities - Vol. III

Sunday, January 28th, 2007

It is time that I renew my FM 3 visa for another year, so I have again had occassion to visit the immigration office here in Xalapa. An FM 3 visa, as you may remember, permits me to reside in Mexico for one year periods and is renewable for four additional years. So last Friday it was off the immigration office, a ten minute walk from the apartment.
I arrived at the immigration office at about 9:30, and signed in with the security guard who remembers me from my first visit and always greets me warmly. In the office I found one fellow seated with the one staffperson present and a woman waiting. Soon six more folks arrived and another staffperson arrived to attend to the crowd.

At any rate within 15 minutes I was seated at the desk with the same very kind woman who had processed my change of address request. She looked over the paperwork I had submitted, filled out a form, presented me with a copy of the form, and told me return in a week to pick up my renewed visa.

In and out in less than a half hour.

By the way. Anyone who can demonstrate that they have lived in Mexico legally for a period of five years can apply for citiizenship. As I understand, there is no test, simply file the application, pay the fee, and attend the annual ceremony in Mexico City where the president confers citizenship.

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