Dean, Xavier Becerra, Raul Grijalva, met with Mexican leaders last fall.

[madfloridian]

Howard Dean presented some good ideas on a trip to Mexico last fall. He is right to point out that working with that country would bring far better results than just passing punitive legislation. Nowhere on this visit did he or the two congressmen who traveled with him even intimate there should not be control.

He is speaking to working together as countries, which Bush has failed to do. There is a lot of criticism here about our Democrats taking a stand on this. They should. Democrats should take a stand against unfair bills being passed. I like Dean's approach on this. When you allow something to go on for years, then you suddenly get to the point of trying to criminalize these people and those who help them.....then he is right. Bush and his cronies are doing as Dean said last year....using them as scapegoats to appeal to their base.

Nowhere do any Democrats not advocate stronger legislation. They advocate fairness.

Howard Dean in Mexico City denounces Bush who "turned his back on Mexico"
http://www.hispanicvista.com/HVC/Opinion/NEWS/102105Pnews.htm

AP) - October 18, 2005 -

U.S. President George W. Bush "turned his back on Mexico" after it failed to support the Iraq war and has been content to let extremists dictate immigration policy since then, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in Mexico City on Monday. In an interview with The Associated Press during a two-day visit to the capital, the former Vermont governor said "we believe a strong Mexico and a strong Mexican economy fixes a lot of the problems between the two countries, particularly immigration and narcotics."

"We ought to have a partnership with Mexico, not a hostile relationship as President Bush has had since the Security Council vote on Iraq," Dean said. "President Bush has lost ground in the relationship."

Dean, who insisted he didn't have a favorite Mexican presidential candidate, said a failure by the Bush White House to cooperate with Mexico on immigration reform helped spawn movements like the Minutemen, a civilian border patrol group that has been guarding the U.S.Mexico frontier to discourage illegal immigration.

He called such groups extremists who send "the wrong message about America," and said "there is an immigration compromise regarding strong borders and the mutual agreement with the Mexican government that could work. They are absolutely not contradictory."

And the DNC write-up of this trip in October last year.
http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/10/governor_dean_i_1.php

While in Mexico, Chairman Dean, Congressman Raul Grijalva from Arizona, and Congressman Xavier Becerra from California (in the pictures) are also going to meet with Presidential candidates from all three major parties in Mexico. 6 years ago, Mexico had one ruling party, and now they have a thriving Democracy. The visit is really sending a powerful message that Democrats will do a much better job of working with Mexico to strengthen their Democracy, and make sure we can do the hard work to make progress on issues like national security, drug trafficking, border security, and immigration, that the Bush Administration has failed so miserably at.

Saludos desde Mexico...

Congressman Xavier Becerra (on the right)


Meeting with Democrats Abroad, I think.



Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is welcomed by Mexican
presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo, of the Institutional Revolutionary
Party, or PRI in Mexico City, Oct. 17, 2005. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)


Also on the trip was Raul Grijalva of Arizona

[madfloridian]

1. A gratuitous kick . It is important stuff about Dems and immigration.

Actually it is pretty good stuff. But I don't use enough exclamation points, or say WTF enough, or use all caps. I don't really sensationalize enough, I guess.

I just see too many here acting like our Democrats don't want tough laws. Read what these guys say. They want tough but fair, not punitive.