When you think of disputes between the United States and Mexico, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably illegal immigrants. But Mexico seems to have another proposition. Mexico's president is concerned with the escalating security problems his nation faces, many of which are fueled by U.S. policies. "We live next to the world's largest drug consumer, and all the world wants to sell them drugs through our door and our window. And we live next to the world's largest arms seller, which is supplying the criminals," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told CNN en Español Friday.A past Latin America national security adviser, Robert Pastor, reported last year that there were at least 6,600 U.S. gun shops within 100 miles of the Mexican border and more than 90% of weapons in Mexico come from the U.S.
American leaders, however, are acknowledging the problem and trying to solve it. "It's not only guns; it's weapons, it's arsenals of all kinds that come south," Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently stated, "So I feel a real sense of responsibility to do everything we can. And again, we're working hard to come up with approaches that will actually deliver."
This issue has also brought heat to another touchy subject: the claim that high crime rates are directly related to illegal immigration, as some U.S. politicians have contended. "Border violence and crime due to illegal immigration are critically important issues to the people of our state," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said, "There is no higher priority than protecting the citizens of Arizona. We cannot sacrifice our safety to the murderous greed of the drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life." However, Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa claims that there's no evidence linking high crime rates with illegal immigration. The two largest Latino populations in the United States are in the New York City and Los Angeles areas, she said, but both locales have seen a "dramatic drop in the crime rate."
So which one do you think is a more pressing problem? The U.S. weapons floating into Mexico, or the illegal immigrants escaping into the U.S.?
8 comments:
I'm glad Tiffany posted this. It's very interesting to put things in perspective. The Arizona Governor is concerned about "our safety [being sacrificed] to the murderous greed of the drug cartels. We cannot stand idly by as drop houses, kidnappings and violence compromise our quality of life." I am not well-versed on the topic of illegal immigration. However, according to Minister Patricia Espinosa, violence is not linked to illegal immigrant crimes. In my opinion, it seems as if the Arizona governor is just trying to come up with more ways to justify Arizona's unjust immigration policies ("unjust" may even be a euphemism).
Thus, it is imperative that we focus on the source of the problem: the U.S. weapons floating into Mexico. Ultimately, that is what we should look to control because guns spark violence and certainly don't improve the drug war related violence.
Nevertheless, it is a difficult one to call. While we're dealing with guns floating around mexico, we're also dealing with an influx of immigrants. So, should we allow even more illegal immigrants - possibly drug cartels - to keep entering the U.S. while we attempt to establish gun regulation in Mexico? Or should we pull out this weed of violence at its roots: the guns...and instead trust that this would work better that stricter immigration policies?
Don't be too quick to bash Arizona's immigration policies. Although I may agree that it can lend itself to racial discrimination, the fact of the matter is that illegals are illegal. The law is the law, and Arizona has not stepped over its authority in carrying out its policy.
Foreign Minister Espinosa took a bad example, as Latino populations are not necessarily illegal populations. Even so, we must make sure that crime rates are related to illegal immigration. Then given the data we can decide how to best address the problem, whether it be guns or illegal immigration.
Unfotunately, it has lead to racial discrimination. "Can lead" is not really applicable anymore. No, I'm not "bashing" the law, but I am expressing disapproval.
Indeed, not all illegal immigration is linked to "Latino populations." And yes, her example was probably skewed because it appears as though she's making the assumption that Latino Populations must be composed of illegal immigrants. However, this is Arizona we're talking about. It borders Mexico, and statistics do show that the clear majority of illegal immigrants are from Latin America. So yes, she worded her reasoning poorly and I completely agree with Charlie in that sense (it seems like yet another stereotype). However, we do need to figure out whether or not crime rates are related to illegal population. Thank you for pointing that out.
In my opinion, more emphasis should be put on weapons getting into Mexico because it's a problem with greater risks if left to continue. I believe that preventing guns from reaching the hands of criminals in Mexico will reduce the number of lives lost. Illegal immigration is still a problem that shouldn't be ignored, but I believe more lives are at stake with the issue of guns entering Mexico.
I agree with Tony on this one, we need to keep the weapons out of criminals in forgein countries. Allowing them to get easy access to guns only makes it easier for them to increase there drug influence in the U.S. This takes me back to my debate last year which was on illegal immigration. Yes higher crime rates might not be caused by illegal immigration but they do cause an uproar which needs to be adressed, maybe the huge fence from California too Texas should of been build, eventhough it was expensive it could have maybe paid off by allowing us to crack down on our security.
We are the largest manufacturer of arms in the world. We produce 41.5% of the worlds arms. The chances of our weaponry not being leaked and sold to the rest of the world is astronomical.
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