Permission from Mexico not required

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U.S. officials and lawmakers responded this week to Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s harsh criticism of the U.S. government’s crackdown on illegal immigrants — some of them gingerly and others with a heavy blast of their own criticism.

The Bush administration announced the tougher immigration enforcement measures in August after Congress’ attempts to overhaul immigration laws failed earlier this summer. Among other steps, the administration has increased raids on factories that employ illegal workers and is working to expand a system to check worker status.

Calderon denounced those developments in his annual address to the nation on Sunday, saying they would ‘exacerbate the persecution’ of Mexican workers.

Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, a Republican congressman from Colorado, was not moved. ‘I’m sure the people of Mexico would be extremely grateful if Calderon showed as much concern over the well-being of Mexicans unlucky enough to still live there as he does for the people who have successfully fled his country,’ Tancredo said Tuesday. ‘If Mexico thinks we need some sort of permission slip to act unilaterally in our country’s best interest, they have another think coming.’

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey was more cautious. ‘We’re all aware of the importance of immigration for the government of Mexico as well as for our government,’ he said in a briefing. ‘It’s an issue that has been there for a long time. It’s one that we continue to work with Mexico on.’

The official responsible for U.S. immigration enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, testified before Congress today and touted his department’s progress in sealing the border. He noted that one sign of its effectiveness was a drop in remittances sent from the U.S. ‘I have to say, I think our foreign partners will find that not happy news, but it does happen to be a metric that shows that our enforcement measures have bite,’ Chertoff said.

Posted by Nicole Gaouette in Washington