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January 06, 2006
 In Looming Public Relations Battle For Americans’ Hearts and Minds, Mexico Will Lose
By
Joe Guzzardi
The immigration reform community
got two wonderful
Christmas presents last December.
The first was
H.R. 4437 wherein a bipartisan majority attached a
string of strongly worded amendments to help enforce
existing immigration laws and to move closer to ending
illegal immigration. Read the details
here. (And Juan Mann’s reservations
here.)
The second—and this is almost too
good to be true—is that
Mexico’s president Vicente Fox hired Dallas public
relations shill
Rob Allyn to improve the country’s image in the
United States.
Believe me, anything that keeps the
issue of
Mexican illegal immigration in the spotlight is
great for us. And if Allyn wants to do our legwork for
the $720,000 chump change fee Mexico will pay him, I
say, "Have at it."
(Aside to Allyn: If I were you I
would insist on my money in advance because this is an
assignment no one can pull off.)
Allyn will soon find that smooth
talking the American people into believing that the
current U.S./Mexico relationship
benefits the average citizen will be tough sledding.
According to news reports, Allyn
gained his Mexican expertise in 2000 when he helped
Fox win the presidency.
But this is the United States,
2006. And the subject is not whether
Fox should wear
cowboy boots or
oxfords to maximize his voter appeal. We’re talking
endless, unchecked illegal immigration.
New York Times reporter
Simon Romero unveiled Allyn’s three-step plan that:
"Calls
for him to represent Mexico in the United States in
meetings with nongovernmental organizations; through
polling and organizing tours of Mexican officials; and
potentially with a small amount of advertising." [Republican
Strategist is Taking Heat for Taking Mexico as a Client,
Simon Romero, New York Times, December 28, 2005]
That’s strike one, strike two and
strike three!
- By "nongovernmental
organizations" I assume Allyn means
churches,
lobbyists, and
others already predisposed to open borders.
Those groups have already used whatever influence
they have to work on Mexico’s behalf. And they are
currently losing the battle for influence among the
American people.
- As for "organizing tours of
Mexican officials," good luck. Here in
California, you can hardly turn around without
bumping into a
meddling "Mexican official."
Here follow what I view as Allyn’s
five insurmountable hurdles:
1) Illegal immigration is from coast to coast the
United States’ number one topic. The
Internet,
talk radio,
cable television, and
some newspapers hammer at illegal immigration’s
consequences from dawn to dusk. Everyday the
Center for Immigration Studies distributes its daily
summary of nationwide newspaper stories about
immigration. On average, there are 25 each day. Fridays
the Center mails out its weekly summary of immigration
editorials, an average of 35. Not all the stories and
editorials are in sync with our position. But they
provide considerable information to an increasingly
skeptical reading public.
2) While
many Americans are sympathetic to the plight of
immigrants, most feel that Washington has ignored legal
and illegal immigration for too long. The result—
massive, uncontrolled immigration— has made citizens
anxious for limits. (See the C.I.S. report, "Last
Five Years Highest Immigration in History: Illegal
Aliens Are Almost Half of New Arrivals.")
3) Illegal immigrants are not hard done by in the U.S., despite
ceaseless whining by Fox to the contrary. Not only
do many get
jobs that the corrupt Mexican government refuses to
create, illegal immigrants put their children into
taxpayer-funded
schools and
universities,
qualify for home mortgages, bear
American citizen children and qualify, in most
cases, for
health care services.
4) Not
all illegal aliens "just come to work." In
Texas, Allyn’s home state, the
most wanted gang members are Quesada, Rodriguez,
Esqueda, Ortegon (Alfredo), Ortegon (Armando), Lemus,
Galvan, Alejandro, Garcia and Mata. The
Texas Mexican Mafia has a similar profile.
5) Mexico, Allyn’s client, is not credible. Even high-ranking
Mexicans are forced to admit that its government, as
represented by
President Fox, is
hypocritical. Two prominent Mexican officials from
its
Human Rights Commission acknowledged
that in dealing with illegal migrants, the Mexico uses
some of the same methods it has criticized the United
States for employing. Commission president Jose
Luis Soberanes admitted that:
"One
of the saddest national failings on immigration issues
is the contradiction in demanding that the North
[the U.S.] respect
migrants' rights, which we are not capable of
guaranteeing
in the South." (i.e. along Mexico's Guatemala
border).
Added
Mauricio Farah, a national inspector for the rights
commission:
"As a matter of fact, [Mexico's] population law does
include prison terms for
illegally entering the country... and this is
something that has been the subject of constant
complaints."
(PR Guru Allyn Draws Flack on Mexico,
Laurence Iliff,
Dallas Morning News, December 22, 2005)
These are hard times
for
open borders fans. Having had their own way for 35
years, they’re not used to
losing.
But nothing lasts
forever. And that’s what has happened regarding
immigration reform. The pendulum has finally swung,
irreversibly, I believe, toward
common sense.
Mexico can hire whoever
it wants to tout its
self-serving position. But what Mexico—and Allyn (e-mail
him)— ultimately has to come to terms with is that it
will no longer be able to steamroll the U.S. Congress.
And—more bad news for
Mexico—look for things to get tougher in 2006 as
Congressional candidates respond to their
constituents demands for even tougher immigration
laws.
Fellows, time to suck
it up!
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM. |
