?? MEXICAN CITIZENSHIP ??

Posted by Carol de Cuastecomates on March 29, 2013, 8:00 am
187.204.91.57

There are lots of folks that read this message board that are probably more tuned in than me to current US politics. I am hoping some of them will join in this discussion. I want to hear other views on the possible consequences of Mexican citizenship for Americans. (I know nothing about the Canadian situation, but it would be interesting to hear about that, as well.) It appears that for whatever reason, the conservative party in the US (Republicans, "Rs" for short) are going to finally do the right thing (I understand this is just my view) and provide a long overdue path to citizenship for the 11 million, non-criminal illegal Mexican, Guatemalan, Nicaraquan folks living and working in the US. This is controversial since there has long been a distinct flavor of racism in the more conservative (of the conservative) elements in the R party and much fake conservative research that totals up the costs of "illegals" without noting their substantial contribution. I have been thinking what this will mean over the next 20 years. Many of the illegals left their home countries because they had little education and few opportunities to make money. Not only are many uneducated, they are social conservatives (primarily Catholic) who will follow the dictates of the Catholic church on social issues (anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-women's rights in general). These views are much more consistent with the views within the R party than the views in the more liberal Democratic party (Ds), meaning that it is at least possible that the R party will see a huge infusion of new voters (probably not all 11 million, but a lot). In addition to being more conservative on social issues, the Rs are the party of corporations, small government, anti-tax and fiscal austerity. The Rs don't like giving people retirement pensions, even though we worked for them and paid into the system, medical care, etc. The Rs call these "government handouts" and us old folks were included in the rhetoric as a group that should have benefits restrained, constrained and cut during the last election. In any event, the Rs have gone after public unions, social security, Medicare, etc. and with 11 million new voters who are just as likely to be misled into thinking that people earning millions should pay even less taxes, I wonder what the outcome will be for me if I get dual citizenship? Several countries, including Germany, have limited the ability of their citizens to collect any pensions or health benefits if they have dual citizenship. I figure if the US government could get Swiss banks to give up the names of their US account-holders, that getting the Mexican government to give up the names of those of us that have been nationalized would not be all that hard... So, figure 10 - 15 years for this influx of conservative voters. If you, like me, are planning to live 30 years, what is the answer? One other note regarding whether we would have enough notice to renounce dual citizenship, if changes are made for eligibility for social security, Medicare, etc. When I took retirement at 60 yo, I was told that if I repaid the entire amount of social security I received (from age 60 - 65) when I reached 65 yo, I could then collect the regular (considerably larger) retirement benefits of someone retiring at 65 y. Guess what? They changed the law and didn't tell me or anyone else I could find that was also laboring under the belief they could trigger the larger amount... Anyway, I really want to hear everyone's opinion about this.

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