Opinion by Ernesto Portillo Jr.: Minutemen picked the wrong target
Tombstone and Cochise County became ground zero Friday in the illegal immigration debate. Less than 200 self-proclaimed border watchers, some of them armed, headed into the hills and no-man's land this week to create a political carnival show.
The Minutemen project, a California import, insists its sole purpose is to report illegal border entrants and to embarrass the federal government for not militarizing the border.
What the Minutemen really got was a media show. Reporters, about equal the number of Minutemen, parachuted into Cochise County to report on the Minutemen's political statement - the U.S. government has failed to stop illegal immigration.
But what the creators of the dog and pony show don't get is that they picked the wrong place to make their media-manipulated tirade. If the Minutemen really wanted to bring public awareness to the causes of illegal immigration, they would have flocked to different places, far away from the border towns of Naco and Douglas and the desert in between.
They should have taken their weapons and self-serving protest to the Arkansas headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The world's largest retailer, which influences marketing and labor practices wherever it operates, paid a record $11 million fine last month to settle a civil immigration case. The federal government charged the global behemoth and 12 contractors with hiring illegal workers to clean 60 stores in 21 states.
The contractors that did the hiring pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid an additional $4 million.
Wal-Mart, of course, can afford the record fine. It amounts to less than one-half of 1 percent of Wal-Mart's $3.16 billion in 2004 profit, according to The Associated Press.
If Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart's home, weren't sexy enough for the Minutemen, they should have kicked off their April Fool's Day rant in the heart of media and money - Wall Street.
There is no better place to protest America's failed immigration policy than amid the enriched banks, investment houses and lawyers' inner sanctums that profit from the low wages paid to illegal workers lured here by jobs. The vast majority of people who illegally cross the border come to work in American stores, factories, fields, homes.
Another target for the Minutemen protests should be the American heartland.
Take corn growers, for example. American corn producers can grow, harvest and ship corn to Mexico and sell it more cheaply than Mexico's corn growers. American growers are more efficient, possess better technology and enjoy taxpayer subsidies.
We dump cheap corn in Mexico, where corn has grown for 5,000 years and is considered more than food - it's part of the Mexican patrimony.
So guess what happens? The displaced Mexican growers and pickers give up and head north.
They're not alone. Agricultural and factory workers in Latin America are losing jobs because of international trade agreements. Low-paying jobs in Latin America are moving to Asia, where labor is cheaper.
International economics, American trade polices and employment practices are too difficult for the Minutemen to grasp.
Instead they grab their guns and head in the wrong direction.
● Ernesto Portillo Jr.'s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Reach him at 573-4242 or at eportillo@azstarnet.com.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/68547.php
Tombstone and Cochise County became ground zero Friday in the illegal immigration debate. Less than 200 self-proclaimed border watchers, some of them armed, headed into the hills and no-man's land this week to create a political carnival show.
The Minutemen project, a California import, insists its sole purpose is to report illegal border entrants and to embarrass the federal government for not militarizing the border.
What the Minutemen really got was a media show. Reporters, about equal the number of Minutemen, parachuted into Cochise County to report on the Minutemen's political statement - the U.S. government has failed to stop illegal immigration.
But what the creators of the dog and pony show don't get is that they picked the wrong place to make their media-manipulated tirade. If the Minutemen really wanted to bring public awareness to the causes of illegal immigration, they would have flocked to different places, far away from the border towns of Naco and Douglas and the desert in between.
They should have taken their weapons and self-serving protest to the Arkansas headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The world's largest retailer, which influences marketing and labor practices wherever it operates, paid a record $11 million fine last month to settle a civil immigration case. The federal government charged the global behemoth and 12 contractors with hiring illegal workers to clean 60 stores in 21 states.
The contractors that did the hiring pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid an additional $4 million.
Wal-Mart, of course, can afford the record fine. It amounts to less than one-half of 1 percent of Wal-Mart's $3.16 billion in 2004 profit, according to The Associated Press.
If Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart's home, weren't sexy enough for the Minutemen, they should have kicked off their April Fool's Day rant in the heart of media and money - Wall Street.
There is no better place to protest America's failed immigration policy than amid the enriched banks, investment houses and lawyers' inner sanctums that profit from the low wages paid to illegal workers lured here by jobs. The vast majority of people who illegally cross the border come to work in American stores, factories, fields, homes.
Another target for the Minutemen protests should be the American heartland.
Take corn growers, for example. American corn producers can grow, harvest and ship corn to Mexico and sell it more cheaply than Mexico's corn growers. American growers are more efficient, possess better technology and enjoy taxpayer subsidies.
We dump cheap corn in Mexico, where corn has grown for 5,000 years and is considered more than food - it's part of the Mexican patrimony.
So guess what happens? The displaced Mexican growers and pickers give up and head north.
They're not alone. Agricultural and factory workers in Latin America are losing jobs because of international trade agreements. Low-paying jobs in Latin America are moving to Asia, where labor is cheaper.
International economics, American trade polices and employment practices are too difficult for the Minutemen to grasp.
Instead they grab their guns and head in the wrong direction.
● Ernesto Portillo Jr.'s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Reach him at 573-4242 or at eportillo@azstarnet.com.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/68547.php
