“Mexico would have died...without the option to send its rural poor - fully one-fifth of its population - to the United States.” ...
2/13/14, "A steady flow of talented, industrious immigrants can fuel a booming economy," by Thomas J. Donohue, Pres. and CEO US Chamber of Commerce, McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Fresno Bee
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| El Salvador jail |
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| El Salvador jail |
8/29/13, “Inside El Salvador’s secretive prison pits where notorious gangs are crammed together like livestock in cells the size of a shed,” UK Daily Mail, James Nye. getty photos
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Note: The US has a 2000 mile border with the violent, failed state of Mexico.
=================================
In 1984, the Wall St. Journal advocated a 5 word constitutional amendment: 'There shall be open borders.'
July 3, 1984, "In praise of huddled masses," WSJ editorial
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| May 2013, ap via UK Daily Mail |
"If Washington still wants to “do something” about immigration, we propose a five-word constitutional amendment: There shall be open borders."...(scroll down, 5th parag.)
==================================
5/20/11, “Despite danger, Central Americans migrate through Mexico,” CNN, by Catherine E. Shoichet
=========================
5/1/13, “All aboard for the American Dream: Desperate migrants ride the ‘Train of Death’ through Mexico to reach the U.S risking violent attack, rape and kidnap,” UK Daily Mail, ap photo
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| Mexico, Aug. 2013, BBC |
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7/3/13, "WSJ Attacks 'Blood-and-Soil' Republicans over Opposition to Immigration Bill," Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart
"The Wall Street Journal editorial page has attacked opposition to the immigration bill that passed in the Senate last week, urging the Republican-led House to "improve" the bill, "not kill it." The bill's border security provisions, the Journal argued, were not weak, as conservatives had charged, but were "wretched excess," the result of "the Republican party letting its blood-and-soil wing trump its supposedly free-market principles."
It might seem odd to attack "blood-and-soil" conservatives (a phrase of Nazi provenance, evidently) on the eve of July 4th. But one need not wave the American flag or protest the obviously offensive connotations of the insult to defeat the Journal's arguments for the Senate bill. By arguing that economic growth should drive immigration reform, the Journal actually undermines the "Gang of Eight" legislation it attempts to defend.
The editorial states, up front, that its "preferred" option for immigration reform "would focus entirely on easing the way for more people to come legally." Border security plays no role whatsoever in the Journal's considerations. That is an astonishing position for a newspaper that has taken a strong stance in favor of the war on terror, including, recently, a strident defense of the National Security Agency's surveillance powers.
Furthermore, border security is not just about stopping terrorism. It is also about the rule of law. And the rule of law, in turn, is fundamental to economic growth. The Journal well understands that fact. It co-publishes an annual "Index of Economic Freedom" with the Heritage Foundation, in which "rule of law" is not just one of the criteria, but the first criterion for economic freedom, before limited government and open markets.
The rule of law is what sets the U.S. apart from many of the societies whence immigrants come. The stifling welfare socialism of Europe; the maddening corruption of the developing world; the brutal repression of the world's lingering tyrannies--all drive ambitious, talented people to our shores in the hope that the rule of law that Americans enjoy will allow them to enjoy the rewards of their hard work. If not, they will go elsewhere.
The fundamental problem with the Senate immigration bill--indeed, with any immigration bill--is that there is no longer any reason to trust the Obama administration to enforce even the mildest of border security provisions. The president has not only refused to enforce the nation's immigration laws, but has brought legal action against Arizona for trying to do so, and ignored Congress in imposing a "Dream Act" by executive fiat.
If any immigration bill passes, it should focus solely on border security and law enforcement--not just because of the importance of the rule of law to economic growth, but because that is the preference of the American public, given the failure of past rounds of immigration reform. A bill that links a so-called "path to citizenship" to ineffective border security provisions will lack democratic legitimacy, much as Obamacare still does today.
The thornier issues of guest-workers, skilled immigrants, and illegal aliens already in the country should be handled piecemeal--separate from, and subsequent to, border security legislation. That is the "alternative" the Journal demands from opponents of the Senate bill: not deportation, but delay--hardly a fatal flaw, given that the Senate bill itself allows most illegal immigration to continue, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Journal is right to criticize the Senate bill's law enforcement provisions: many of them are mere sound and fury, signifying nothing, mistaking expensive inputs for security outcomes. But the greater weakness of the bill is its failure to restore the rule of law, which did not begin with Obama but has accelerated under his administration. That will, in turn, hurt economic growth. The so-called "blood-and-soil" patriots are right."
=====================
6/17/13, "Syria and Egypt can't be fixed," Asia Times, by Spengler
“Mexico would have died as well, without the option to send its rural poor - fully one-fifth of its population - to the United States.” ...
===================
‘Only’ 4200 were killed in first 4 months of new Mexican president’s term:
5/5/13, “Violence in Mexico: Journalists’ sons killed and seven bodies found,” Reuters via NY Daily News, “Around 70,000 people have died at the hands of Mexican drug cartels since 2006.”
“84 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, and 20 more have disappeared since 2005.”
=========================
.
“In December 2012, newly installed President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to switch the focus of Mexico’s drug wars from tackling the gang leaders to reducing the crime and violence that affect the lives of Mexicans….
Where are the worst-hit areas? Violence was first concentrated in the northern border regions, especially Chihuahua, as well as Pacific states like Sinaloa, Michoacan and Guerrero. Ciudad Juarez, just across from El Paso in Texas, was the most violent city. In 2010, some 3,100 people were killed in Juarez, which has a population of about one million. Violence has now dropped markedly in Juarez.
Guerrero, home to the resort of Acapulco, Sinaloa and Nuevo Leon remain among the most violent regions. One of the focal points of violence since 2010 has been Mexico’s third-largest city, Monterrey, which became the centre of a turf war between the Zetas and Gulf cartels. Veracruz on the eastern coast saw a series of mass killings in 2011 after previously being largely untouched by the violence….
The government’s efforts have for years been undermined by corruption by members of the security forces who collude with the gangs. Former President Felipe Calderon deployed more than 50,000 troops and federal police against the cartels. Many of the main gang leaders were either arrested or killed. However, the violence soared under his administration.”…
Northern Mexico crime-run coal mines share the US border, are “more lucrative than drugs,“ and partner with the Mexican ‘government:‘
1/4/13, Coal mining is “more lucrative for Zetas than selling drugs.”
1/4/13, “Mexican Cartels Go Underground—to Mine Coal,” TheFix.com
==============================
Escalation of killings in Mexico, Dec. 2006-Dec. 2012. via BBC
=======================11/17/12, “Mexican druglords strike gold in coal,” AFP via Gloucester City News
“Since the Zetas discovered coal, violence has been on the rise, especially in a town of 150,000 called Piedras Negras, or black stones….Legitimate businesses help cartels launder money and bring in extra revenue….Such business activities allow them not just to bring in more money “but above all gain social and political legitimacy.“…Traffickers sometimes kidnap, mug or even kill miners and their bosses, or force them into business-sharing agreements.”…
————————————————————————-
The Mexican government buys coal from the Zetas:
10/31/12, Coal mined by the Zetas is “sold to state-owned electric company CFE.”
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1/8/13, “The coal is then resold to a (Mexican) state-owned company, which is also suspected of being in cahoots with the Zetas, at a profit 30 times greater than the initial investment.”
===========================
9/11/06, “Mexico’s Mine Crisis: Tiny coal mines escape inspections,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, J.L. Sherman—————————————–
1/4/13, “Mexican Cartels Go Underground—to Mine Coal,” TheFix.com
“Mexico’s federal human rights agency has said that criminal involvement in the mines poses a threat to miners’ lives, by stripping them of basic safety protocols.“…
==================================
5/4/11, “Mexican Mine Explosion Leaves Five Dead; “No Chance” For Other Miners, Labor Secretary Says,” latindispatch.com
“The gas explosion that trapped 14 miners underground Tuesday in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila has now claimed the lives of five of those workers….
Mining near-surface coal in the region is a way of life for thousands of miners who sell the coal to the Mexican state for power generation and often work with little more than basic tools.“…
photo, Northern Mexico open pit coal mine sells coal to Mexican gov.
===================
“And for the state of Texas in particular, it’s all happening just across the border.”
1/8/13, “Los Zetas, Drug Gang From Mexico, Gets Into Coal Mining Business,” Huffington Post
From TakePart’s Andri Antoniades:
“The Los Zetas drug cartel is arguably Mexico’s most violent and most feared gang. Recently, they took over the country’s Coahuila region in the north, which shares a border with Texas. But the cartel wasn’t there to expand its drug or prostitution rings. Instead, the gang took over the dirty business of coal mining.
Coahuila is a coal-rich region, and as the AFP reports, the Zetas muscled in on that industry assured of the financial gains that would come with it. But coal is of particular significance to the Zetas beyond its monetary rewards; mining is free from the sticky consequence of prohibitive laws attached to other rackets like drug selling or sex trafficking.
The Zetas reportedly mine the coal through their own poorly-paid workers, or they buy it from small-time miners who are obliged to cooperate. The coal is then resold to a state-owned company, which is also suspected of being in cahoots with the Zetas, at a profit 30 times greater than the initial investment.
Estimates of the cartel’s profits from coal mining in Coahuila hover around $25 million a year.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Zetas infiltration of Mexico’s Coahuila region was covert and swift. In under three years, the cartel was able to control every aspect of commerce, from politics to small businesses, all under the threat of extreme violence for anyone who didn’t cooperate.
Though some report the mining operation has been an open secret in the region for some time, the Zetas involvement wasn’t widely known outside of the country until October when during a press conference, the former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira told reporters that a recently killed Zetas leader was running the coal mining industry before his death.
In his interview with Al-Jazeera, Moreira says the practice is exceeded even drug running in terms of its earning power.
The drug cartel’s involvement in an industry rife with human and environmental abuse lends itself to some obvious concerns. Al-Jazeera reports that the Coahuila mines are already noteworthy for being particularly unsafe, including one accident in 2006 where 65 people died. But tunnel collapses occur with some frequency there, as do methane gas explosions. Mexican human rights officials report that since the Zetas’ infiltration, miners are no longer allowed to utilize what little safety protocols they previously had access to, making the environment all the more hazardous. But as Moreira explained for workers, it’s not a matter of choice, “Here those in poverty are forced to seek work where they can…”
No matter how careful businesses are, just the act of coal mining produces a scourge of environmental abuses. According to Greenpeace, the proliferation of metals and ash into the surrounding skies
pose serious health risks to nearby residents. But the process also
causes a enormous deposits of greenhouse gas emissions into the
atmosphere, excessive water waste and heightened toxicity from large
chunks of inner earth being hollowed out and dumped onto its surface. In the hands of individuals known for their 5/4/11, “Mexican Mine Explosion Leaves Five Dead; “No Chance” For Other Miners, Labor Secretary Says,” latindispatch.com
“The gas explosion that trapped 14 miners underground Tuesday in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila has now claimed the lives of five of those workers….
Mining near-surface coal in the region is a way of life for thousands of miners who sell the coal to the Mexican state for power generation and often work with little more than basic tools.“…
===================
“And for the state of Texas in particular, it’s all happening just across the border.”
1/8/13, “Los Zetas, Drug Gang From Mexico, Gets Into Coal Mining Business,” Huffington Post
From TakePart’s Andri Antoniades:
“The Los Zetas drug cartel is arguably Mexico’s most violent and most feared gang. Recently, they took over the country’s Coahuila region in the north, which shares a border with Texas. But the cartel wasn’t there to expand its drug or prostitution rings. Instead, the gang took over the dirty business of coal mining.
Coahuila is a coal-rich region, and as the AFP reports, the Zetas muscled in on that industry assured of the financial gains that would come with it. But coal is of particular significance to the Zetas beyond its monetary rewards; mining is free from the sticky consequence of prohibitive laws attached to other rackets like drug selling or sex trafficking.
The Zetas reportedly mine the coal through their own poorly-paid workers, or they buy it from small-time miners who are obliged to cooperate. The coal is then resold to a state-owned company, which is also suspected of being in cahoots with the Zetas, at a profit 30 times greater than the initial investment.
Estimates of the cartel’s profits from coal mining in Coahuila hover around $25 million a year.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Zetas infiltration of Mexico’s Coahuila region was covert and swift. In under three years, the cartel was able to control every aspect of commerce, from politics to small businesses, all under the threat of extreme violence for anyone who didn’t cooperate.
Though some report the mining operation has been an open secret in the region for some time, the Zetas involvement wasn’t widely known outside of the country until October when during a press conference, the former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira told reporters that a recently killed Zetas leader was running the coal mining industry before his death.
In his interview with Al-Jazeera, Moreira says the practice is exceeded even drug running in terms of its earning power.
The drug cartel’s involvement in an industry rife with human and environmental abuse lends itself to some obvious concerns. Al-Jazeera reports that the Coahuila mines are already noteworthy for being particularly unsafe, including one accident in 2006 where 65 people died. But tunnel collapses occur with some frequency there, as do methane gas explosions. Mexican human rights officials report that since the Zetas’ infiltration, miners are no longer allowed to utilize what little safety protocols they previously had access to, making the environment all the more hazardous. But as Moreira explained for workers, it’s not a matter of choice, “Here those in poverty are forced to seek work where they can…”
brutality and utter lawlessness, the power to further pollute the earth is all the more overhwhelming. And for the state of Texas in particular, it’s all happening just across the border."...
===========================
10/31/12, “3 Coal companies investigated for drug ties in Mexico,” latino.foxnews.com
“Impulsora JBN, Perforaciones Tecnicas Industriales and Minera La Mision”…
5/3/13, “Mexico: Journalist Killings Go Largely Unpunished,” AP via Huffington Post.
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