Letter from indigenous Mexican man who was denied a US visa to receive an award for internet development

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/14/ikta-kop-collective.html

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No address :heavy_plus_sign: no bank account

Not a person

:cry:

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Part and parcel of the xenophobia-tinged anti-intellectualism of a declining empire. The U.S. is voluntarily giving up its position as a global beacon for innovators like this man.

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https://ranchoelectronico.org/
https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://ranchoelectronico.org/&prev=search

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Bah. He was probably trying to get a visa so he could sneak in here and get one of those migrant labor jobs that all Americans want so much.

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heart breaking and irrational.

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This would be a prime opportunity for the WH to display some humanity and much needed cojones by pulling a few strings and do the right thing for this guy. But I don’t expect that; better to play to the dumbass base and allow the dissing of a young creative doer.

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He didn’t want a migrant labor job, or any job for that matter. He’s lazy. He wanted to “go on welfare,” taking advantage of our excellent social services, especially food stamps and free medical care. He would then laugh at us-- probably in his mother’s Tseltal dialect.*

*conventional wisdom; Fox News; Breitbart; right wing FB.

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A timely quote from the days of yore;

If you’re White, you’re alright
If you’re Brown, turn around
If you’re Black, GET BACK

The US is the architect of its own demise.

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Plus he’s clearly a communist.

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Yes. And he wouldl doubtlessly illegally vote for the communist Democrats, all according to their plan.*

*Source: email forwarded to me by my uncle.

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160 USD, minimum wage in Mexico at about 4.50 USD. That’s 35 days wages.

You would think this would be spelled out somewhere in the application process. “These are the bare minimum requirements to apply for a visa”

You should be able to deny a visa without question, that’s not what I’m arguing here, but do you really need 160 bucks from poor people without bank accounts that bad?

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You’re absolutely right, the US doesn’t need that, and that’s not even the purpose of the requirement. The US Consulate also doesn’t need to intimidate and humiliate applicants for visas to the US. I have more than one Mexican friend who refuse to renew their visas to the U.S. because they don’t want to put up with our consular officials’ attitudes. These are people who have traveled throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. They have good jobs in Mexico, no desire to overstay a visa, and yet U.S. consular officials treat them like thieves casing the joint.

On the other hand, any fine, young USian scholar with a passport can get on a plane to the Yucatan, no visa required, and:

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Oddly enough there is nothing on the Embassy or Department of State website that indicates that any of those things are required.

The closest it gets is:

Applicants for B visas must demonstrate their intention to enter the U.S. for a temporary period, solely for the purpose of tourism and/or short-term business. Applicants must also demonstrate sufficient funds to cover travel expenses during their stay in the U.S.; as well as sufficient social, economic, and other ties to their home country to compel the applicant to return after a temporary and lawful visit.

I guess it’s the last one that got him.

After all any one who can’t prove they got lots of money, an address that an US consular official recognises as such but can show that they’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to help and support their local community clearly can’t demonstrate “sufficient social, economic and other ties to their home country”. /s

It’s the economic ties that are obviously important here.

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