News Highlights

Immigration troubles can be solved, but political capital is at stake, former Mexican foreign minister says

Jorge Castaņeda

The Bush administration understands the Mexican immigration issue and knows what must be done to fix it, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda told a Minnesota State Mankato audience on April 26. But the administration isn't willing to risk political capitol to effect the changes.

2007-04-26

The Bush administration understands the Mexican immigration issue and knows what must be done to fix it, former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda told a Minnesota State Mankato audience on April 26. Trouble is, the administration isn't willing to risk political capitol to effect the changes, he added.

Castañeda, foreign minister under former President Vincente Fox, spoke to a standing-room-only audience in Ostrander Auditorium of Centennial Student Union. He also met with students, faculty and staff during his visit to the University.

There are about 12 million Mexican citizens living in the United States -- about half of whom are undocumented immigrants, Castañeda said. They comprise an important sector of the U.S. workforce -- workers who allow meat processing, canning and other low-wage agricultural plants to remain in the United States.

The global economy doesn't let meat-packing plants pay American workers $20 per hour, Castañeda said, so they have two choices: Bring low-wage Mexican workers to the U.S., or move the U.S. plants to Mexico. The former, he said, is better for the United States, and for the communities in which the plants are located.

The Department of Political Science & Law Enforcement is primary sponsor of Castañeda's visit.

In the Fox administration Castañeda specialized in U.S.-Mexican relations, including immigration, trade, security and narcotics control; joint diplomatic initiatives by Latin American nations; and global Mexican economic and trade promotion.

A renowned intellectual, political scientist and writer, Castañeda has taught at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, Princeton, the University of California-Berkley and, currently, at New York University. His expertise is Latin American politics, comparative politics and U.S.-Latin American relations.

He was a senior associate at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace in Washington, D.C., and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant recipient.

Born in Mexico City, Castañeda earned B.A. degrees from Princeton University and the Universite de Paris-I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), an M.A. from Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes, Paris I, and a Ph. D. in Economic History from the University of Paris.

He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left after the Cold War (Knopf, 1993), The Mexican Shock (New Press, 1995), Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara (Knopf, 1997), and Perpetuating Power: How Mexican Presidents Were Chosen (New Press, 2000). He is a regular columnist for the Mexican daily Reforma, and Newsweek International.

Other sponsors of Castañeda’s visit are the International Relations Program, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, College of Business, Institutional Diversity, International Programs, the IMPACT Team and student organizations. The visit was co-sponsored by a number of other programs, including the College of Graduate Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, History, Economics, Geography, Social Studies and Modern Languages.

Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives