A Mexican man is beaten up and his backpack stolen walking home from a soccer game and the Mexican Government promises:

We will act decisively in order to protect our citizens and will actively promote that those guilty of these vicious attacks are brought to justice expeditiously. We are working hand-in-hand with local authorities on all levels.

Big deal.  Just another day in the chaotic, violent country below our southern border.  Right?

Wrong.  This incident happened in Staten Island , New York, in the good ol’ U.S.A.

Police are investigating the assault in Staten Island as a possible hate crime, and the Mexican government is now getting involved as well.

Five men mugged the 40-year-old Mexican man Friday night as he was walking home after a soccer game at Faber Park, a police spokesperson said. The story is that they beat him while shouting anti-Mexican epithets. The man suffered head trauma, a fractured jaw and needed ten stitches above his eye, officials said.

The men made off with his backpack.

At least the sixth violent, ethnically-charged incident that has taken place in the neighborhood since April has community leaders urging residents to stay alert.

Consul General of Mexico in New York, Ruben Beltran, made the promise to “protect our citizens“ that I alluded to earlier  in an e-mail to the Staten Island Advance.

The muggee is a construction worker who has made the United States  his home (illegally) for the last five years, said Beltran. Police are looking for five suspects in this latest case, which is being investigated as a hate crime.

Beltran has asked the NYPD to “conduct a thorough investigation” of the alleged hate-crime cases. Beltran has offered “extensive cooperation and all the necessary support to ensure that justice is served.”  After all, the victim is a citizen of Mexico.

According to the Advance, this latest incident has promoted the Mexican Consulate to post personnel in Staten Island until further notice. This move is an effort to safeguard the rights of individuals and effectively assist and provide information to the Mexican residents of this area.

The Guardian Angels, lead by Curtis Sliwa, have also promised to patrol the area.  Make the Road New York, a local community group that serves the communities of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island is organizing a march that will take place on Wednesday.

Mexican officials have also created an information line that for (illegal) immigrants to contact if they are afraid to contact authorities directly, the number is 1-800-724-7264.

Meanwhile, an anti-immigration group want the Obama administration to ensure a safe exodus for illegal immigrants who are fleeing the U.S. due to the weak economy and Arizona’s strict new immigration law.

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) wants Americans to put pressure on the White House and the Homeland Security Department to create “safe departure” border checkpoints along the U.S. border for illegal immigrants so they can flee the country without the threat of being detained or prosecuted for immigration crimes.

 The president of the group, William Gheen, said in a written statement:

The peaceful and gradual exodus of illegals from Arizona shows there is no need for comprehensive immigration reform amnesty.  Comprehensive immigration enforcement works and has the desired effect without mass deportations.

According to Gheen, the safe passage would allow illegals to:

…leave in an orderly fashion, instead of trying risky desert crossings, paying money to the cartels for passage south, or fleeing to other states.

This is about the only situation we would ever advocate that our immigration laws be waived. We want to encourage the illegals to leave America on their own and thus we ask Obama to provide them safe passage out of America.

So far, the White House and Homeland Security have not responded.

All this is going on while the Obama administration is waiting on the judge’s ruling in federal court on their injunction to block Arizona’s immigration law, set to take effect on Thursday.  The now-famous law would make illegal immigration a state crime and require police to check the residency status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. A ruling on the case is expected by this morning.

It is estimated that 100,000 illegal immigrants have left Arizona in the past two years as it cracked down on illegal immigration and its economy was rocked by the recession.  A Department of Homeland Security report on illegal immigrants estimates Arizona’s illegal immigrant population peaked in 2008 at 560,000, and a year later dipped to 460,000.

No one knows how many illegals have left since the new law passed in April. Some are fleeing the U.S. and others are heading to neighboring states.

A pro-immigrant group called the safe passage proposal “a little suspicious.”

Sarahi Uribe, a regional organizer for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said:

I think it’s clearly part of the attrition strategy. Make things so horrible for immigrants that they will self deport.  But while it’s true some people are leaving Arizona, a great deal of people are staying.  Spin, Senora, spin.

Uribe dismissed Gheen’s idea as a “thinly disguised” strategy to “drive people out of the state of Arizona.”

It’s kind of sick they would paint this as humanitarian relief when Arizona’s immigration law has created a humanitarian crisis.

Gheen told FoxNews.com that he would not want safe passage for illegal immigrants accused of serious criminal offenses, such as murder or rape.

“The main thing is, we just want them to leave,” Gheen said, adding that if all immigration laws were enforced, the number of illegals would be reduced to less than 1 million in 10 years.

Now let me get this straight.  A Mexican consul is demanding protection for a Mexican citizen who has claimed squatter’s rights for 5 years in a country that he entered illegally.  Meanwhile, he has been enjoying our freedoms with none of our responsibilities.  I’m very sorry he and others have been attacked.  That’s wrong and those attacks are isolated incidents.  However, just as breaking and entering a home or business is a crime, so is sneaking into a country.  As more states pass similar laws to that Arizona, illegals will be looking to either move to another state or go home to Mexico.  The idea of safe passage is fine, if it will work.  The proposed pathway to citizenship idea, while a noble idea, unfortunately,  has a lot of political issues attached to it. 

So, let’s take this one step at a time.  Secure our borders.  Enforce the anti-illegal immigration laws.  And if the Federal Government won’t, the states, like Arizona, will have to pass their own laws.  America became a great nation because it is a melting pot of American-born and legally-immigrated citizens with a shared allegiance, not a multi-cultural United Nations with everyone loyal to their home country.

Sources:  nbcnewyork.com, foxnews.com