Embassy Row

Mexicans in America

Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza declared that no Mexican in the United States is a terrorist, as he defended Mexican migration across the border as healthy for the economies of both nations.

“Mexican migrants are not terrorists,” Mr. de Icaza said in San Diego this week.

The ambassador did not distinguish between legal and illegal migration in his address to the Institute of the Americas, run by Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

An estimated 8 million to 12 million foreigners are in the United States illegally, and 60 to 70 percent of them are Mexican, according to the U.S. government.

Mr. de Icaza said, “Mexican migrants in the United States contribute to both the U.S. and Mexican economies.”

Millions of legal and illegal Mexicans here send some portion of their salaries to relatives in Mexico.

The ambassador called on the United States to adopt “immigration reforms that allow us to have order, security and human dignity.”

He noted the increasing political clout of Mexicans and other Hispanic immigrants, who now constitute the largest ethnic minority in the United States.

“One of the most important developments … is the increasing influence of Mexican communities in the United States,” he said.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 24 million American citizens have Mexican heritage and that nearly 10 million Mexican nationals live legally in the United States.

Mr. de Icaza, who became ambassador in Washington in March, said the relationship between Mexico and the United States “has no parallel.”

“Our cooperation on border security is good, which also allows us to fight against organized crime,” he said.

Before his latest assignment, Mr. de Icaza, 56, served as Mexico’s ambassador to Japan, Belgium, Argentina and Ecuador in a foreign service career that began in 1970.

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