Another excuse out the window…

Having spent some time as an “illegal alien” in Mexico, I was always bemused by the right-wing dolts who said “well, what would happen to me if I went to Mexico and…”  They were always disappointed that the answer was “not a hell of a lot.”

Of course, the smarter of the right wingers (er… the slighly less stupid ones) would then point out that Mexican authorities did hold some immigrants … usually those passing through the country from elsewhere, and were travelling to the United states.  Or, who were working as migrant workers in the South (where, ironically enough, immigration to the U.S. has led to a shortage of farm workers, and Mexican growers have to turn to Guatemalans and Hondurans), or those few immigrants who take jobs.  Yeah, the lockup sticks, but it wasn’t exactly a concentration camp … more a holding pen next to the airport.  And, a lot of “illegals” awaiting deportation were held in hotels.  I used to catch the Brazilian pianist held at one of the Mexico City hotels, who was being paid under the table as the lounge act while waiting to be repatriated.

Guess what, dudes?

Todays “Diario Oficial de la Federacion Mexico” includes a “Decreto por el que se reforman y derogan diversas disposiciones de la Ley General de Población“. In other words, some legal changes became official today. Illegal aliens are now subject to a fine of twenty to one hundred days the Federal District’s salario minimo (from about one hundred to five hundred U.S. dollars). The provisions in the code for locking people up just for being in the country without the right papers are gone.

Mexicans can be fined for contracting marriages for the purpose of circumventing the immigration laws.

Ironically, there may be more prosecutions of gringo illegals as a result of the reforms. A lot of people work who are on tourist visas (like I did), or have residency permits, but not a work visa. I get the feeling Immigration generally ignored these people just because it was a hassle to arrest and charge them. Since it’s only a fine now, I expect there will be more prosecutions.

So, I guess the best the right wingers will be able to come up with is some blather about the people in Ritmo not paying their fines. “Debtors’ Prison” somehow sounds less sinister than Concentration Camp, right?