TAMPA TRIBUNE October 10, 2006
Officials Brainstorm Immigration SolutionsORLANDO - To stem the flow of its work force to the United States, the Mexican government is exploring policies that would give Mexicans an incentive to return home, according to Mexican Undersecretary for North America Geronimo Gutierrez. Mexico and the United States, allies and neighbors, want the same things: border security and control of migration, Gutierrez said during an immigration symposium Monday at the Lou Frey Institute of Politics & Government at the University of Central Florida. Gutierrez said both governments will promote a return home for Mexican immigrants by: •Setting up transnational mortgage companies for Mexicans who want to go back home and buy a residence. •Deferring some of the workers' wages to be collected when they return to Mexico. •Sharing information with the Department of Labor in both countries to keep track of workers. •Binational, private and public health insurance The immigration debate has polarized the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The latest solution was to build a double-layered wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to slow the 8,000 daily illegal immigrants, including other people from Latin America, who enter the country via Mexico. The immigrant backlash has divided the public. Some people ask for cities and states to pass English-only laws and want to stop immigrants' access to social services. For U.S. leaders, the immigration debate is framed around homeland security. Control of the borders will help law enforcement in capturing terrorists and criminals, according to congressmen who spoke at the symposium. U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Orlando, said 1.2 million people were caught by the Border Patrol as they tried to sneak in the country last year. But 155,000 of them were not from Mexico. There were people from Pakistan, Iran and Iraq being smuggled by bandits, he said. Controlling the porous border is the key, Keller said. The impact of the migration is another contentious issue. Keller places the cost to taxpayers at $45 billion. Health care, education and incarceration are expensive, he said. Hundreds of spectators, including students from 14 Florida high schools and middle schools, also heard from U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Orlando, who favors a guest worker program. "It's impractical to think we are going to deport 12 million people," Martinez said. "It's not going to happen."
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