Calderon: Immigration Law 'Opens the Door' to Hate

(April 27) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned Arizona's new immigration law as hateful and discriminatory, and said he will do everything in his power to protect the rights and dignity of Mexican citizens.

The law "opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement," Calderon said late Monday in a speech for the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.

Anger over the law, which criminalizes illegal immigrants and allows authorities to question anyone they believe to be in the country illegally, has gone international.

Calderon warned that relations between the United States and Mexico could deteriorate. "Nobody can sit around with their arms crossed in the face of decisions that so clearly affect our countrymen," he said. According to The Washington Post, the president vowed to work with consulates and the foreign ministry to build a system of legal defense for Mexicans in Arizona.

Already there are signs of increasing tensions.

Patricia Espinosa, the foreign affairs secretary of Mexico, said the government would rethink the "viability and usefulness of the cooperation schemes that have been developed with Arizona."

The Mexican government issued a travel warning this week to citizens who are heading to Arizona, advising them to "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws." The law will not go into effect until this summer, but the government warned of "an adverse political atmosphere for migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors."

Mexico's Sonora State is boycotting its annual meeting with Arizona, which it borders.

"This is not about a breaking of relations with Arizona, but rather a way to protest the approval of the law," the Sonora State government said in a statement.

The Associated Press reports that some members of the Mexican Congress have called for a trade boycott against Arizona.

"In Congress, we support any trade and transport boycott necessary to reverse this law," Oscar Martin Arce, a Mexican lawmaker in Mexico told the AP.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the bill into law Friday, told The New York Times that calls for a boycott of the state were "disappointing and unfortunate," and she reiterated her support for the legislation.

But Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she has "deep concerns" about the Arizona law. In a meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Napolitano said the legislation erects an "undue barrier" between law enforcement and citizens, CNN reported Tuesday.

The Arizona law has inflamed the national debate over immigration in the United States. Its supporters say the law helps the state protect American jobs and enforce laws the federal government refuses to. But critics say the law, which allows police to stop anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being illegal, is draconian and will encourage racial profiling.

Officials inside Mexico -- and across the Americas -- are decrying the law as discriminatory against Latinos.

Jose Miguel Insulza, head of the Organization of American States, said the bill is "clearly discriminatory against immigrants, and especially against immigrants from Latin America."

Outcry is building among Mexican citizens and media as well.

"They have the right to be there; they are good workers," Ana Olivera, a secretary in Mexico City, told the Christian Science Monitor. "When Americans come here to work, we treat them with respect. They should do the same with us," she said.

Ricardo Rocha, a columnist in El Universal, one of Mexico's leading newspapers, went further. He compared the immigration law to anti-Semitic codes imposed in Germany in the years leading up to the Holocaust, and he demanded that the president "declare war" on Arizona.

President Barack Obama has spoken out against the law, and Calderon said he would bring up his concerns to the American president next month when the two leaders meet.