Mexico City – The Mexican government said Tuesday that a law approved by the Georgia state government “discriminates against Mexicans,” while at the same time announcing that its diplomats will not take part in a “commercial boycott” announced by immigrants for May 1 in the United States.
The administration of President Vicente Fox “expresses its concern because implementation of some provisions of the law could lead to acts of discrimination against Mexicans in Georgia,” said presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar.
He added that Mexico considers that “partial measures, such as are implicit in this legislation, are insufficient to resolve in an integral manner the complex phenomenon of migration between the two countries.”
Governor Sonny Perdue signed Monday the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which imposes harsher penalties on undocumented immigrants and makes new requirements of employers.
The law does not annul the right of any person to obtain emergency medical attention or of children to receive public school education without regard to their immigration status, but it does require that immigration status be checked whenever other benefits are applied for.
The law also requires that employers verify that their workers are residing legally in the country, although this clause will not take effect until 2009.
Aguilar said that while Perdue was signing Georgia’s new immigration law, the governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, “vetoed a bill skewed against immigrants.”
“This only shows the complexity of a problem which affects both countries, and can only be resolved to the degree that we deal with the phenomenon in its entirety,” he said
He added that the Mexican government respects the autonomous decisions of United States authorities and said he was “optimistic” that the U.S. Senate, which on April 27 resumes its discussion of immigration reform, will finally approved a measure that satisfies Mexico’s aspirations.
On the other hand, he said that Mexican diplomats in the United States will take no part in the “commercial boycott” announced by immigrants to demand a “just and integral” immigration reform, even though Mexico “respects the decisions of civil society.”
Mexican diplomats supporting the May 1 boycott would be tantamount to a “violation of U.S. sovereignty” and would represent a “meddling attitude on the part of Mexico, which we would not like anyone to have towards us.” Aguilar said.
