THE IRAQ WAR: Mexican soldiers

The major issue between the US and Mexico is the status of legal and illegal Mexicans in the US. Univision has paid special attention to the problem. The main motive for young US Mexicans to enlist in the armed forces is to get immediate naturalization and an education. Those who return from Iraq are received as heroes. There are complications. One youth got his citizenship, but his father had been deported. Now his mother was to be deported; in neither case was the reason given. It was heart-wrenching to see the old woman sitting there sobbing and saying "What shall I do? I have nowhere to go". Equally sad were the scenes when the bodies of those killed in action were brought home. An American officer visited the parents and presented them with their son's naturalization certificate. That was all. Mexicans claimed the parents should have been naturalized. They said that this experience had deepened their Mexican roots, and that young Mexicans should not enter the US armed forces just to get naturalization and an education. The issue became political. California's Democrat-controlled state assembly passed a law requiring that the consular card be officially recognized. What Washington will say about this remains to be seen. The Bush administration offered concessions on the naturalization issue if Mexico would privatize the oil industry and permit American investments. The Mexican reaction was angrily negative. Mexican immigration and the Middle East are two intractable problems.

Ronald Hilton - 5/11/03