Guess what? That new Arizona employer sanctions law, well, the Mexican government doesn't like it ! Big surprise, huh ? According to an article in the Associated Press:

The Mexican government promised Friday (January 4th) to defend any Mexicans affected by an Arizona law that punishes employers who hire undocumented migrants.

And what is that new law?

The Arizona law, which went into effect Tuesday (January 1st) , prohibits businesses from knowingly employing illegal immigrants. Violators face business license suspensions for up to 10 days; a second offense triggers permanent revocation.

Notice that the new law goes after employers, which is one of the things we need to get this situation under control. But, of course, the Mexican government does not approve:

The (Foreign Relations) department said it will "intervene, through its consulates, in any situation in which the rights of Mexican workers are affected, regardless of their immigration status."

A big part of the problem here is that despite all the meddling carried out by Mexican diplomats, our own government allows it. Can you imagine the U.S. government reprimanding a meddling Mexican diplomat?

By the way, there are five Mexican consulates in Arizona, in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales, Douglas and Yuma.

Meanwhile, in political news, guess which American candidate has been attacked in Mexico?

Mike Huckabee. Yes, the same Mike Huckabee who encouraged illegal immigration as governor of Arkansas, who actively worked to set up a Mexican consulate in Little Rock, who joked to LULAC about white Southerners becoming a minority? That Mike Huckabee.

Jeremy Schwartz reports in a blog entry entitled "Mexicans Fear Huckabee" that

A week ago, most Mexicans had never heard of Mike Huckabee. After the former Baptist minister’s victory in Iowa, many here now view Huckabee as a danger. Huckabee is generally seen as the most conservative of the Republican candidates and as such, the toughest on immigration (Mitt Romney might have something to say about that characterization).

Schwartz quotes Mexico's Reforma newspaper:

”The triumph of Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucus is not good news for Mexico. It happens that the ex-governor of Arkansas … is winning supporters in great part through his plan to seal the border with Mexico with a wall and more Border Patrol. He also has the support of such ”wonderful” people as James Gilchrist, founder of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement and the actor Chuck Norris, who played the role of a violent Texas Ranger.”

And according to Diego Petersen Farah, writing in Milenio :

”Huckabee’s position on immigration is absolutely radical…Without a doubt, for Mexico and Latin America in general, Barack Obama would be a much more empathetic president, although not free of problems.”

Well, that's gratitude isn't it ?

Meanwhile, way down south of the border, even Chile took time to bash the construction of the U.S. border wall (which may not ever get completed anyhow). According to a report by Vittorio Hernandez:

Chile has joined the growing number of nations against the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Chilean Senate passed a resolution formally protesting the continued building of a wall on the border, saying it is an insult to Latin American countries.

The article reports that

Chilean Senators Jaime Naranjo and Pedro Munoz authored the resolution on December. They said the wall is a racist policy that goes against various international human rights treaties.

There was a little opposition to the resolution though:

The Senate's Foreign Relations Committee warned against pushing through with the resolution since it may be interpreted as intervening into the U.S.' internal affairs.

When it came time to vote though, it sailed through:

But the Senate nevertheless approved the resolution, with few legislators voting against it.

One of the resolution's authors had this to say:

Munoz told Santiago Times in today's world of globalization, walls are no longer acceptable, citing the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany as evidence.

Yes, the tired old Berlin Wall analogy. How irrelevant! Here's what the resolution calls for:

The resolution asks Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to order Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley to inform the U.S. government of its stand and to ask for a halt to the construction. It also sets a national policy to side with Mexico and other Central American countries if they will bring the issue to the United Nations.

So why is Chile, which is thousands of miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, getting mixed up in this?

There has been some immigration from Chile to the U.S. through the years (since the 1850s, in fact) but the numbers have not been that great. And Chile has one of Latin America's most successful economies.

But apparently, the main reasons for the resolution are Latin American solidarity and the fact that it's an easy way for Chilean senators to show off and feel good about themselves .