Mexico and Big Business Coalition
Seek Amnesty for Illegals

ost people don't think foreigners who broke into the U.S. illegally to take jobs and welfare are guests. But that doesn't bother the left-wingers and big business groups that have joined forces with the government of Mexico to lobby the U.S. Senate. Mexico vowed it will "not allow" a recent House-passed immigration and border security bill to become law and has hired a U.S. public relations firm to try to stop it. Mexico and a U.S. coalition for open borders want Congress instead to pass legislation that will let millions of illegal aliens stay in the U.S. as "guestworkers."

The coalition of radicals, CEO's, and Mexicans are pushing Congress to waive the penalty for aliens who entered illegally and grant them legal status.

As this issue of Middle American News goes to press, there are several different "guestworker/amnesty" plans floating around the halls of Congress, including a major expansion of immigration sought by President Bush. White House strategists hope the Senate passes one of them to soften the border security bill passed by the House late last year.

Angered by the House bill, which includes authorization to build a fence along portions of the border in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced it as "shameful" and "disgraceful." Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez went further, saying his country won't let the U.S. adopt the security measure.

"Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall," he vowed. "What has to be done is to raise a storm of criticism, as is already happening against this."
Mexico last month announced it had hired Allyn & Company, a public relations firm in Dallas headed by Republican political consultant Rob Allyn to help implement its strategy to convince Americans and Congress to accept mass immigration from Mexico.

Jose Luis Soberanes, head of the Fox government's National Human Rights Commission, says Mexico will need to increase tensions with the U.S. to get its way. "I would expect more energetic reactions from our authorities. It's preferable to have a more demanding government, more confrontation with the United States."

In Washington, the United States Chamber of Commerce and two of the nation's most powerful labor unions joined forces to help Mexico convince Congress to legalize millions of illegal aliens working in the U.S. The big business/labor coalition includes the Service Employees International Union with 1.8 million members, and the Laborers' International Union of North America, which has 400,000 members. The Chamber of Commerce represents 3 million businesses across the U.S.

"We think it is important to show that we have a united political front here," said Randel K. Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor, immigration, and employee benefits. "The unions tend to bring the Democrats to the table, and we'll bring a good portion of the Republicans. We're standing here, joining forces to tell the Congress that they need to step up to the plate."

Other groups in the coalition include associations representing Hispanics and radical immigrarion advocates, the hotel and restaurant industry, the American Jewish Committee and Catholic bishops.
One of the guestworker/amnesty plans, suggested by President George Bush, would not only give amnesty to millions of illegals already here, it would also increase overall immigration levels. The Bush plan calls for lifting immigration limits so that U.S. employers could hire any number of foreigners just as long as the employer claims no Americans can be found to fill the jobs.

Other guestworker plans, introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-AZ, Ted Kennedy, D-MA, Arlen Spector, R-PA and others, contain different details in implementation, but all of them would allow illegal aliens to continue to live and work in the U.S. by waiving the penalty for their illegal entry. The bills also give a back-door amnesty to the businesses that violated federal law by hiring the illegals.

"This a major battle between elites on one side and the American people on the other," said Robert Goldsborough, president of Americans for Immigration Control. His group is lobbying to stop any immigration legislation that contains amnesty for illegals.

"We're asking our members and supporters to tell their representatives in Congress to oppose any legislation that uses amnesty to turn illegals into guestworkers. If average Americans have to obey the laws, so should big business and foreign workers."