We are Mexico.

Today's Washington Post editorial reads: "Inaction trumps problem-solving when immigration is involved." Here's my answer:

Dear Washington Post editorial board:

When over 2/3 of Americans oppose something fiercely, that means the opposition is bipartisan.

You wouldn't believe that from all the Tea Party nutballs weighing in here on this comment thread, but whether they're nutballs or not, on this particular issue HALF of Democrats agree with them.

So you can't airily dismiss all opposition as simply nativist/racist/xenophobic opposition, or act as if it's purely an issue with those knuckle-dragging Republican troglodytes.

And yes we 2/3 realize it's impractical for to round up and deport every citizen of another country who's here illegally, as every amnesty-proposer from President Obama (when he was still campaigning for the job) on down has stated.

But that's a false choice. They won't disappear magically, but they didn't appear magically either. Every blessed one of them is a citizen of another country, came here from that country, and is a documented person in that country, and is legally entitled to return to that country.

They can return exactly the same way they came--on foot if need be, though I'd be glad for America to pay for a one way bus ticket for any that wanted it.

And if you want to propose something there's a shred of a chance we'll accept, don't talk to us about amnesty until the vast flood across our southern border becomes a trickle.

See, we remember what happened in 1986. We got real amnesty coupled with fake enforcement.

And the government has exactly as much motivation to pull that trick today as it did then. Corporate exploiters of low-skilled labor want it, many Mexican Americans want it, and the Catholic Church wants it--oh, and a lot of labor unions and the Democratic Party leadership want it.

But we won't get fooled again, to quote The Who.

We want America to decide who comes here, not the ruling class of Mexico, which is seeking to export Mexico's self-inflicted overpopulation problem here (Mexico went from 13.1 million in 1900 to 20 million in 1940 to 111 million today).

Mexico's ruling class isn't stupid. They have an illegal immigration problem too, with people coming from even poorer countries. Their solution is a very sensible set of immigration laws.

I think it would be a great gesture of respect for Mexico if we adopted its immigration laws, with the addition of some high tech stuff like biometric ID.

You can read about it here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-05-25-mexico-migrants_N.htm

But in short, it's tougher than Arizona's--and requires ALL state and local law enforcement authorities to enforce the federal law (apparently Mexican president Felipe Calderon is unaware of Mexican law BTW, given what he said on the floor of Congress).

Plus it prohibits mass immigration that would change Mexico's demographic character--in other words, it defends Mexico's own culture from being morphed into something alien.

And as for family reunification, Mexican immigration law is OK with that IF and only IF the immigrant takes complete responsibility for the care of anyone he or she brings to this country under his or her aegis. They're welcome if the original immigrant will support them and cost our country not one cent.

Isn't Mexican immigration law great?

BTW when Americans bring up Mexican immigration law to leftists, guess what they say? "We're not Mexico." As if that ends the discussion.

Well actually we ARE Mexico. We're both sovereign nations, each with a distinctive national culture and language. We both have a severe illegal immigration problem. We both have a similar income distribution today, thanks to Wall Street's Masters of the Universe reconfigureing Wall Street to enrich themselves through money manipulation instead of fulfilling its original purpose of financing American businesses that actually make something.

And Mexico isn't a poor nation. That right, it's not. By UN estimates its poverty level ranks #37 out of some 140 nations. The average Bangladeshi would think he'd died and gone to heaven if he could live in Mexico.

So yes we are Mexico.

And to my fellow amnesty opponents--get the word out: let's all tell Congress we want to adopt Mexico's immigration law.

Now that's "comprehensive immigration reform" a vast majority of Americans would go for.

As for the 12-20 million citizens of other countries living here illegally--mostly from Mexico or parts south--they're welcome to apply for a visa in their home country, and when the unemployment rate for American unskilled laborers falls below 5% and the Mexicans now living here are actually assimilated into American society...we can think about letting more come here.