Mexico warns nationals about Arizona policy

MEXICO CITY
— The Mexican government Tuesday took the unusual step of issuing a
travel alert urging extreme caution by Mexicans working, studying or
otherwise spending time in Arizona.

The warning came in response to that state’s tough new immigration measure, which requires people in Arizona to carry proof of their legal right to be in the United States and police to check for it.

It came as more and more Mexican officials across
the political spectrum objected to the law, which critics say will lead
to racial profiling. Proponents say it is necessary to curb illegal
immigration.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday said the measure “criminalizes” the largely social and
economic phenomenon of migration. He warned it would damage
long-standing economic, cultural and commercial ties between Mexico and Arizona.

The law “opens the door to intolerance, to hatred,
to discrimination and to abuse,” Calderon said at a meeting of the
government-affiliated Institute for Mexicans Abroad, which works on
behalf of the millions of Mexicans who live outside the country — most
in the U.S.

The institute Tuesday called for boycotts of U.S. Airways, which is headquartered in Tempe,
and games played by the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and the
Phoenix Suns basketball team. The head of Calderon’s conservative
political party called for a moratorium on all trips to Arizona.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry, in issuing its travel alert, urged Mexicans in Arizona to steer clear of the pro- and anti-immigrant demonstrations that have been taking place in Arizona and to carry all migratory documents at all times.

“As was clear during the (Arizona)
legislative process, there is a negative political environment for
migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors,” the alert said,
posted in Spanish and English on the ministry’s website.

Although details on how the law will be enforced
remain unclear, the alert said, “it must be assumed that every Mexican
citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any
time.”

In Sonora, the Mexican state that borders Arizona and shares the closest relationship, Gov. Guillermo Padres Elias said he was cancelling a twice-a-year conference that the two states have been holding for more than a generation.

“The conditions at this moment are not right,” he
said, adding the cancellation was a symbolic protest to convey his
government’s dismay. “We have many roots in common and a law like this
hurts. I hope the friendship between these two states is not
(permanently) damaged.”

Calderon blamed “opportunistic” state legislators in Arizona with an eye to electoral politics for promulgating the law. The issue is likely to dominate his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama next month in the White House.

“No one can remain with their arms folded, faced
with decisions that so clearly affect fellow countrymen, who for
generations have contributed to the growth . . . and to the development
and prosperity of Arizona,” Calderon said.

He vowed to use “all resources available” to defend
Mexicans that run afoul of the law and ordered the five Mexican
consulates in Arizona to redouble assistance offered to Mexican nationals.

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