In the past year or so we have been regaled with stories of how Vincente Fox has been berating the US and the Minutemen for trying to protect the US borders from illegal immigrants.  Indeed it is a very hot button issue that has blurred the lines between conservatives and liberals in America as it is.

Now, Mexico is facing an illegal immigration issue of its own.  And they are using a no holds barred solution.  NO ifs, ands or buts.  Illegals to Mexico are being rounded up, and before a lawyer can yell Habeas Corpus, being deported back to their homeland.

The reasons, according to the article, are many and varied.  And I don't think anyone is arguing that perhaps a lot of these illegals would eventually make their way to the US border.  But one reason is very telling, and ironic.

The phenomenon has put Mexico in a peculiar position. On one hand, it is the United States' biggest single source of illegal immigrants. On the other, it has the strongest economy in Latin America and increasingly is becoming a destination for its poorer neighbors.

It appears that the success of NAFTA has propelled Mexico into a position of economic power in Central America.  And thus, what had been a solely US problem, is now a Mexican one as well.

Perhaps this sudden uptick in illegal immigration into Mexico will give the Mexican Government a better understanding and empathy for the situation now endemic in the US.  And perhaps they will be more sympathetic to the ones that want to stop the flow so that we can secure our borders.

A nation is a collection of individuals who agree on a a basic set of rules.  In that, the rules must stop somewhere as there are (currently) over 190 nations on this planet.  Once you define the borders, every nation has the right, and indeed the obligation to secure its borders in order to ensure the safety and security of its collection of individuals (citizens).  The US asks no more than what every other country expects and tries to enforce.  Now Mexico has joined that club.

Welcome aboard.