Tancredo: Illegal Immigration Props Up Mexico’s Dysfunctional State – Breitbart News
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Mexico is not happy that President Trump appears to be serious about building a border wall and halting the cross-border human traffic. The improvements in border security promised in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 as a trade-off for the general amnesty never happened, and illegal border crossings have trended upwards again after a brief decline connected to the 2008-10 recession. Apprehensions of illegal border jumpers on the southwest border have increased every year but one since 2010, and increased 23 percent from 2015 to 2016.
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Because of the relative ease of crossing the border and Mexicos liberal definition of Mexican citizenship, we have the situation recently described by author Ann Coulter, who discovered that persons of Mexican origin now residing in the United States legal and illegal are equal in number to over 25 percent of the 130 million population of Mexico.
The Pew Hispanic Center says there were 33.7 million Americans of Mexican descent in the United States in 2012, and that figure is based in part on the official Census figure of 11.3 million illegal aliens, over 60 percent of whom are from Mexico. If you believe as I do that the illegal alien population of the U.S. is over 25 million, not 11.3 million, then the percentage of Mexican nationals now residing in the U.S. persons recognized as Mexican citizens under the Mexican Constitution is considerably above 25 percent.
Few Americans are aware that in 2005, in recognition of the growing importance of remittances to the Mexican economy and thus the growing importance of maintaining a close connection with the millions of Mexicans who have moved north, the Mexican constitution was amended to bestow voting rights in presidential elections for Mexicans living abroad. In 2012, over eleven million Mexicans living in the United States voted in the Mexican presidential election.
Let me put this in stark economic terms: Mexicos national income grows in direct proportion to the size of the illegal Mexican population inside the United States. Does that help explain the Mexican fixation on U.S. politics? Mexicos most profitable export to the U.S. is not oil or avocados or automobile parts, it is people.
Mexicans living and working in theU.S. send home over $20 billion annually in cash remittances more than Mexico earns in foreign currency from tourism or any export commodity.
In 1979, Mexico received only $177,000 (U.S. Dollars) in remittances; in 2016 it was $26.1 BILLION over 90 percent of it from persons living in the United States. (See here for a GAO report on remittances to Mexico from the U.S. and here for the World Bank reports for total remittances received by Mexico.)
You dont believe government data? Even the Clinton News Network confirms it: this recent CNN report says Mexico relies more on remittance income than the sale of oil or tourism.
To guarantee those remittance dollars keep flowing north to south, Mexico must keep exporting its citizens south to north. Does anyone think Mexico will give up that lucrative income graciously?Do you think Mexican politicians will welcome an interruption of either of those two flows either people going north or dollars coming south?
As a Congressman, back in 2001, I visited Mexico along with two of my colleagues and met with several high government officials in the Mexican capital. One of those officials was Juan Hernandez, a dual citizen with a home in Texas, who at that time was the head of a cabinet department. That department had the name,Ministry for Mexicans Living Abroad, but it has since been reorganized and given a lower public profile as the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, a government-funded division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I asked Seor Hernandez, what exactly do you do here? He was quite candid and informative and not the least bit apologetic. Hernandezs job was to direct and coordinate a large collection of enterprises of transport and educational activities aimed at assisting and encouraging Mexicans in physically moving north across Mexico and entering the United States.
I was struck by both the grandiosity and bravura of that official Mexican government operationdirected by a cabinet official. Somewhat shocked by his candid admissions, I asked Hernandez, hey, arent you embarrassed by violating the sovereignty of a neighboring country? His reply was delivered calmly and with a smile. I remember his words clearly: Really, congressman, we dont have two countries here, its just a region.
I also asked Hernandez, why does the Mexican government work so hard to maintain contact with Mexicans even after they become naturalized citizens of the United States? He told me, its because they tend to stop sending money home after they assimilate. Assimilation, he believed, was a problem: if Mexicans stopped being Mexicans first, and Americans second, that is very bad for Mexico.
Juan Hernandez, as I said, is a dual citizen of Mexico and the United States, and he has been very involved in U.S. politics. In 2008, working from his Texas home, he was named as presidential candidate John McCains chief of Outreach to Hispanic Americans.
You can makeofthat connection with John McCain what you will; maybe the guy just needed a job. But as for myself, I would worry if my candidate were endorsed by the Juan Hernandez characters of the world, and I am delighted that Seor Juan Hernandez is apoplectic over the plans announced by President Trump.
What lies ahead for U.S.-Mexican relations? Your guess is as good as mine, but if Trump persists in his plans, Mexican bluster and outrage will be replaced by a more pragmatic accommodation. The border will continue to be a point of conflict, but Mexico may come to realize that the end of the remittance cornucopia was inevitable.
Mexico can grow its own economy and create millions of jobs for its people by abandoning its socialist dogmas and state-owned enterprises. If that happens, someday soon Mexican politicians will see the bitter medicine administered by Trump as a blessing in disguise.
Polls of newly-arrived Mexicans who entered our country illegally reveal that the large majority of them do not intend to stay forever. Typically, uponarrival, they plan to get a job, send money home, and then return home to Mexico and enjoy a better life than what they left.
Mexicans naturally retain a love of thecountryof their birthand that love of country is certainly not a bad thing if you think of it as your true home. If ten million Mexicans now in the United States became optimistic about Mexicos future and returned home to fight corruption, build a better educational system and a stronger economy, that, too, would not be a bad thing.
Read more here:
Tancredo: Illegal Immigration Props Up Mexico's Dysfunctional State - Breitbart News
- The Strange Case of the Illegal Alien Cop - Center for Immigration Studies - October 19th, 2025 [October 19th, 2025]
- ICE, federal partners arrest more than 1,400 illegal aliens in Massachusetts during Patriot 2.0, including murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, child... - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- ICE arrests illegal alien serving as a local police officer in Suburban Chicago - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- Federal immigration agents arrested an illegal immigrant who was working as a police officer in the sanctuary state of Illinois. Radule Bojovic, an... - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- Democrats Fight for Illegal Alien Healthcare Benefits as Government Shutdown Continues - Federation for American Immigration Reform - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- The UK government will pay you $120K to convince the public that it's successfully tackling illegal immigration - Fortune - October 15th, 2025 [October 15th, 2025]
- Chief Deputy Lowes attends panel on illegal immigration - ReadTheReporter.com - October 15th, 2025 [October 15th, 2025]
- Headlines and Heartlines: State Rep. Janis Holt discusses education, property tax relief, illegal immigration and district concerns - - Bluebonnet... - October 15th, 2025 [October 15th, 2025]
- Rafe Fletcher: Accountability, not technocracy, is the answer to illegal immigration - Conservative Home - October 15th, 2025 [October 15th, 2025]
- The Disturbing Connection Between U.N.s Green Energy Push and Illegal Immigration - The Heritage Foundation - October 9th, 2025 [October 9th, 2025]
- Of Course Illegal Immigrants Access Public Health Benefits - Center for Immigration Studies - October 9th, 2025 [October 9th, 2025]
- An illegal immigrant gang member on the run for allegedly killing a man in California went on to kill a woman in Texas before Immigration and Customs... - October 9th, 2025 [October 9th, 2025]
- ICE Issues Government Shutdown Warning on Illegal Immigration - Newsweek - October 2nd, 2025 [October 2nd, 2025]
- Digital ID cards: what are they and how will they help the UK deal with illegal immigration? - The Conversation - September 28th, 2025 [September 28th, 2025]
- ICE arrests illegal alien from Haiti connected to criminal terrorist organizations - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - September 25th, 2025 [September 25th, 2025]
- ICE, law enforcement partners searching for 2 illegal aliens who escaped after choking Border Patrol agent - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs... - September 23rd, 2025 [September 23rd, 2025]
- Venezuelan man responsible for sex trafficking female illegal aliens sentenced to 10 years in prison - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - September 19th, 2025 [September 19th, 2025]
- UK minister dismisses Trump's call for military intervention to control illegal immigration | Hindustan Times - Hindustan Times - September 19th, 2025 [September 19th, 2025]
- ICE lodges detainer against illegal alien who murdered a teenage girl after she rejected his sexual advances - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs... - September 19th, 2025 [September 19th, 2025]
- ICE receives more than 150K job applications as Trumps crackdown on illegal immigration continues - New York Post - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- ICE receives more than 150,000 job applications as Trump crackdown on illegal immigration intensifies - UNILAD - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Richard Brant and Lauren Butler: Reform UKs Plans for Getting Tough on Illegal Immigration: From Legal Reset to Sunset - UK Constitutional Law... - September 15th, 2025 [September 15th, 2025]
- ICE launches new initiative to arrest illegal aliens at immigration hearings amid DHS deportation battle - The Economic Times - September 15th, 2025 [September 15th, 2025]
- Suspected illegal aliens arrested by immigration authorities while on way to Franklin County poultry plant - 1819 News - September 13th, 2025 [September 13th, 2025]
- Twin Monster Illegal Immigration and Drug Trafficking - AMAC - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- What is the government doing to tackle illegal immigration? - GOV.UK - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- How many illegal migrants are in Britain? The key numbers driving the immigration debate - Sky News - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- ICE Launches Operation Midway Blitz in Honor of Katie Abraham to Target Criminal Illegal Aliens Terrorizing Americans in Sanctuary Illinois - Homeland... - September 9th, 2025 [September 9th, 2025]
- Feds cite current crisis of illegal immigration in push against NJ sanctuary city orders - New Jersey Monitor - September 9th, 2025 [September 9th, 2025]
- A Bold Political Decision: The New Strict Bill Against Illegal Immigration OpEd - Eurasia Review - September 6th, 2025 [September 6th, 2025]
- ICE Boston removes illegal fugitive wanted for child rape in Jamaica - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - September 6th, 2025 [September 6th, 2025]
- Hope and hate: how governments around the world are responding to 'illegal' immigration - SBS Australia - September 6th, 2025 [September 6th, 2025]
- Malheur County Sheriff cannot help I.C.E. with illegal immigration enforcement - KIVI-TV - September 3rd, 2025 [September 3rd, 2025]
- Baseless Allegations Of Massive Illegal Immigration Into India From Bangladesh - Eurasia Review - September 3rd, 2025 [September 3rd, 2025]
- Interim US attorney says he has been directed to go after illegal immigration - Rocky Mount Telegram - September 3rd, 2025 [September 3rd, 2025]
- Digital ID cards could be introduced to curb illegal immigration - The Independent - September 3rd, 2025 [September 3rd, 2025]
- VOTE: Do you support Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration in large US cities? - WEAR-TV - September 1st, 2025 [September 1st, 2025]
- Better Tools, Fewer Raids: The Digital Solution to Illegal Immigration - American Enterprise Institute - August 29th, 2025 [August 29th, 2025]
- ICE arrests criminal illegal alien convicted of murder - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - August 27th, 2025 [August 27th, 2025]
- CEO used disability charity as a front for offering illegal immigration advice - The Independent - August 27th, 2025 [August 27th, 2025]
- ICE Newark arrests heavily armed illegal alien who overstayed visa by 9 years - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - August 27th, 2025 [August 27th, 2025]
- Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds - Salina Post - August 26th, 2025 [August 26th, 2025]
- HSI Kansas City hosts young European leaders from 15 nations to share strategies for combating transnational crime and illegal immigration - U.S.... - August 26th, 2025 [August 26th, 2025]
- ICE arrests twice-convicted, drunk-driving illegal alien whos been hiding in California for over 20 years - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - August 26th, 2025 [August 26th, 2025]
- Two Illegal Aliens Arrested, One Extradited to Florida for Triple Vehicular Homicide - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 26th, 2025 [August 26th, 2025]
- Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds - Castanet - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds - MSN - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- New York State Claims Right to Give Welfare to Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds - The Sumter Item - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- This City Figures it Can Help Illegal Aliens More by NOT Enacting Sanctuary Policies - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds - FOX4KC.com - August 22nd, 2025 [August 22nd, 2025]
- Enhancing Border Security and Combatting Illegal Immigration - U.S. Department of State (.gov) - August 20th, 2025 [August 20th, 2025]
- ICE arrests 9 illegal aliens and seizes drugs, scammed gift cards at underground nightclub in California - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - August 18th, 2025 [August 18th, 2025]
- Archived: ICE arrests nearly 200 in Los Angeles-area operation targeting criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives - U.S.... - August 18th, 2025 [August 18th, 2025]
- Oklahoma Moves to End In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 18th, 2025 [August 18th, 2025]
- Never Get Used to Illegal Alien Crime. This Family Wont. - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 14th, 2025 [August 14th, 2025]
- Clashes play out nationwide over Trump's approach to illegal immigration - KATV - August 12th, 2025 [August 12th, 2025]
- Clashes play out nationwide over Trump's approach to illegal immigration - KUTV - August 9th, 2025 [August 9th, 2025]
- Illegal immigration vs domestic crime: Where should resources go? - Cleveland.com - August 9th, 2025 [August 9th, 2025]
- Clashes play out nationwide over Trump's approach to illegal immigration - KOMO - August 7th, 2025 [August 7th, 2025]
- Ohio, South Carolina, 16 others join Texas illegal immigration fight - The Center Square - August 7th, 2025 [August 7th, 2025]
- Grand Forks Border Patrol apprehends eight people suspected of illegal immigration - Grand Forks Herald - August 7th, 2025 [August 7th, 2025]
- NC Democrats attacking one of their own over illegal immigration (08-07-2025--Hour1) - WBT Charlotte's News Talk - August 7th, 2025 [August 7th, 2025]
- Ohio, South Carolina, 16 others join Texas illegal immigration fight - Shelby News - August 7th, 2025 [August 7th, 2025]
- Third Circuit Blocks New Jersey Law Prohibiting the Private Detention of Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - August 1st, 2025 [August 1st, 2025]
- ICE Philadelphia removes illegal alien from Honduras wanted for femicide, attempted homicide - ICE | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (.gov) - July 30th, 2025 [July 30th, 2025]
- Illegal immigration cost taxpayers millions in Florida last year. Heres how - WKMG - July 28th, 2025 [July 28th, 2025]
- ICE Buffalo arrests illegal alien with 9 US criminal convictions including assault, arson and robbery - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement... - July 27th, 2025 [July 27th, 2025]
- Illegal Alien Felons Wont Get Taxpayer-Funded Legal Aid in California, and Activists are Fuming - Federation for American Immigration Reform - July 27th, 2025 [July 27th, 2025]
- Two Illegal Aliens with Lengthy Criminal Backgrounds Suspected in NYC Shooting - Federation for American Immigration Reform - July 24th, 2025 [July 24th, 2025]
- Calif. college to permit criticism of men in womens sports, illegal immigration to settle free speech suit - The College Fix - July 22nd, 2025 [July 22nd, 2025]
- Nationwide protests begin against Trumps illegal immigration crackdown, health care cuts - WKMG - July 20th, 2025 [July 20th, 2025]
- Federal agents conduct illegal-immigration hiring raid at northern AZ BBQ chain - The Arizona Republic - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Fmr Biden adviser roasted over NYT illegal immigration op-ed | RISING - The Hill - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- He opposes illegal immigration, but Gely won his heart - The Seattle Times - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration is causing uncertainty, ex-DNC official says - Fox News - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- ICE Del Rio, federal partner investigation results in the sentencing of an illegal alien from Honduras for his role in an alien smuggling conspiracy -... - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Floridas Bid To Criminalize Illegal Immigration Entry Blocked By Supreme Court, For Now - Tampa Free Press - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- DHS, DOJ Streamline Process for Issuing Fines to Illegal Aliens - Federation for American Immigration Reform - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- He Opposes Illegal Immigration, but Gely Won His Heart - The New York Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]