Some Mexican immigrant advocates are arguing that illegals should boycott the 2010 Census unless a vast increase in naturalization (about 12 million) is approved first by Congress. http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/18150 It is a development that could further complicate the taking of the 2010 Census.

The development constitutes a strange turn in politics, too, since it confounds the ethnic political calculations of those who want to use new citizens to boost Democratic party fortunes. More immediately, if many Hispanics who are here illegally aren't counted in the 2010 Census, Democrats, in effect, could lose clout in Congressional reapportionment and state redistricting. The calculation of the immigrant groups is that the Democrats in Congress, facing such a prospect, now will be forced to push hard for immigration changes. But in the midst of a major recession, that calculation could be a mistake.

Add this to the mix: Many in Mexico are a lot less eager to see increased numbers of naturalized U.S. citizens from the population of illegals now north of the border than they are to get Washington to adopt a program of temporary visas for agricultural and other short term workers.

From a Mexican perspective, that nation's interests lie in retaining its labor force in the long run while increasing family remittances in the short run. It is also pointed out that most Mexicans would rather not abandon their country of birth if they can find a way to make a living there--or in legal work in the U.S. Granting amnesty to the current illegal immigrants assures that as soon as the process is over the same problems will arise for a new generation of illegals--problems for U.S. border security and problems of personal security for the new waves of illegals. It is in the interests of the Mexicans as well as the Americans to get a real reform, not just a political fix.

The obstacles to policy accommodation are not in Mexico but in the American Congress. Businesses are much more ready to improve the lot of temporary workers than they were--classically--in Grapes of Wrath days (and that story was about workers who were Oklahomans, not Mexicans). But organized labor will resist the competition. So will some ethnic voter groups aligned with the Democrats.

Still, a U. S. Administration that wanted to help Mexico to stabilize and prosper and to find a permanent solution to the worker/immigration pressure on our borders would support an increase in temporary visas and work permits, just as it would visas for skilled workers. It also would legislate to assure modern standards of housing and medical protections for temporary workers. The increase in working visas could be combined with serious border security enforcement. But with a worker visa program included in immigration reform, such border problems would be reduced anyhow, and almost at once.

We should stop thinking of Mexico as a welfare case and start regarding the country as the strong trade partner it is already and the developed first world economic power it has the potential to become.

The Obama Administration apparently has abandoned the campaign promise to re-open NAFTA. Otherwise, however, it shows little inclination to move on this path. Meanwhile, Republicans are clear that they oppose massive naturalization efforts (amnesty), but seem unable to articulate a principled and positive foreign/domestic agenda that identifies with both the interests of our border integrity and Mexico's legitimate economic ambitions and the humanitarian interests of Mexican workers. Why can't politicians put these worthy goals together?

It could be, and should be, undertaken before the 2010 Census.