Mexodus

Mexicans are self-deporting because of the bad economy, heading south for Christmas.

DENVER – After going months without a full-time job, Daniel Ramirez has decided it's time to return to family in Mexico.

Vicenta Rodriguez Lopez says she can't afford to live in Colorado any more because her husband was deported.

Roberto Espinoza is going back, too. After 18 years as a mechanic for a General Motors dealership in Denver, his work permit wasn't renewed and he didn't want to remain in the country illegally.

All are leaving Colorado in time for Christmas — joining a traditional holiday migration that will number almost 1 million people, says Mexico's interior ministry. But they have no intention of returning to Colorado, a place that promised prosperity.

I've never been one to demonize illegal immigrants; they've got mouths to feed and we encourage them to sneak over and go to work. I don't blame them; I blame our government and the crooked business owners who have created this human rights misdemeanor of encouraging illegality and rewarding it with criminally low pay, no benefits, and legal harassment. We are a sick society that dangles a carrot then whacks with the stick.

Meanwhile, why are we denying a work permit visa for someone who has been legally employed here for 18 years? Mr. Espinoza is obeying the law. That's the person we should be inviting to become a citizen, not sending back home.

Not to worry. This southward tide of humanity will reverse course once the Democrats' New Deal jobs program kicks in. Building infrastructure is gritty, backbreaking work that rarely stops for inclement weather. Many unemployed Americans will be holding out for government-sponsored office jobs, and businesses will be holding out for cheap labor. Mexicans, God bless 'em, will fill that gap.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_us/return_to_mexico