That's What I'm Talkin' About

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said negotiations had been ongoing throughout the day Thursday after Republicans met behind closed doors to close ranks on the immigration bill. He said the meeting helped build momentum to pass the border fence measure.

"What would be the best Christmas present to the American people is pictures of concrete being poured" for the fence, Tancredo said. "This is a good thing."

Merry Christmas, American People!

Here's a response from Mexico to the latest wave of immigration fear in the House of Representatives:

El canciller Luis Ernesto Derbez expresó su preocupación por la iniciativa de ley antiinmigrante que se debate en el Congreso de Estados Unidos; sin embargo, advirtió que cualquier propuesta que solamente refuerce las medidas de seguridad fronteriza no será negativa para México sino para el país del norte, debido a la aportación económica y social que los migrantes realizan a esa nación.

"Es en beneficio de Estados Unidos que se dé una reforma migratoria que le permita a los ciudadanos, a las empresas y a los gobiernos de Estados Unidos a nivel estatal, municipal, tener identificadas a las personas y tener también las capacidades para que puedan (los migrantes) desarrollarse al máximo en su proceso de integración a esa sociedad", dijo el canciller en conferencia de prensa en Tlatelolco.

Lest I am accused of oversimplifying the issue, I'll acknowledge that the credibility of Mexican politicians in the ongoing disucssion over immigration is a bit compromised by the fact that so many Paisanos in the United States send so much money to Mexico each year. Moreover, like Helmut, I'm suspicious of arguments rooted in economics--or even of arguments posing as credible by referencing economics--especially when we should be talking about humans.

I'll leave this, for now, to much better writers than me: Ben Ehrenreich, of The Believer, in an excellent piece on AlterNet yesterday ("The Guerilla War Against Cheap Lettuce"), asks:

It's hard not to laugh out loud: all this mad fuss over so much nothingness. What are we so afraid of?