Letter: Mexican government the real culprit here

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

The estimated labor force of Mexico in 2004 was 34.73 million, according to the theodora.com Web site. The country has 12 percent arable land, 1 percent permanent crops, 39 percent meadows and pastures, 24 percent forest and woodland and the other 24 percent is mixed. Mexico has a mixed agriculture that produces much of the same products as the United States and industries that mimic much of what you will find here.

So why would millions of Mexican illegal immigrants, a large part of their labor force, be seeking employment or working in the United States? The corrupt and lawless government of Mexico is the problem.

Our leaders should be putting some pressure on the Mexican government to clean up its act. Our tax dollars would be better spent backing honest politicians and exposing political corruption in Mexico than building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Our government needs to demand that the Mexican government get its act together or suffer some severe consequences. If this means invoicing them for every illegal immigrant, then so be it.

If the Mexican people really want a brighter future, they should be marching in the streets of their own cities. The grass could be just as green on their side of the border if only those millions of illegal immigrants would clean up their own house instead of trying to clean ours.

Ricky Kendall, North Las Vegas