WHERE ARE DEFENDERS OF FRAMED IMMIGRANTS?

The International Court of Justice at the Hague has ordered the United
States to stay the executions of three Mexican citizens.

That didn't go over well here in Texas, where some people love to complain
about Mexican immigrants and where support for the death penalty
practically is a way of life.

Oh, well. The court was right. Under the 1963 Vienna Convention, agreed to
by both Mexico and the United States, cops on both sides of the border must
inform foreign nationals of their right to meet with their country's consulate.

Officials in Texas and Oklahoma, where the men are on death row, apparently
broke the rules. And the system broke down. It happens. What is disturbing
is how often it seems to happen when those sitting at the defendant's table
are Mexican immigrants.

It happened in Dallas, where dozens of Mexican nationals were arrested,
prosecuted and convicted for allegedly trafficking in what authorities
thought was cocaine - and then released and their cases dismissed when
authorities realized they had been snookered. The "evidence" really was
ground Sheetrock.

Such atrocities make the ruling by the World Court all the more important.
Unfamiliar with our laws and procedures and often unable to speak English,
immigrants who run afoul of the law - or whom the law runs afoul of - often
have nowhere else to turn but the Mexican Consulate.

That is more bad news for immigrants. As sovereign outposts of the Mexican
government, the consulates are famously unresponsive to Mexicans in the
United States. Their staffs often are full of rude, incompetent and
arrogant bureaucrats who deliver lousy customer service.

In the fake drug scandal, the Mexican Consulate in Dallas has appeared
largely unconcerned with the plight of the victims. It has resisted raising
a ruckus or publicly criticizing authorities. It says it is waiting for the
FBI to conclude its investigation into the case.

Well, at least Mexican immigrants can count on support from their distant
relations: Mexican-Americans. After all, Mexican President Vicente Fox says
he considers Mexicans on both sides of the border to be one big happy familia.

Get real. This family is dysfunctional. The Northern cousins look down on
their relatives to the South. Mexican-Americans have convinced themselves
that having more education, more money and more English proficiency than
Mexican immigrants makes them superior.

It is amazing. Mexican-Americans can be just a generation or two out of the
river, and yet they act as if their ancestors came over on the Mayflower.

That gives some context to a Dallas-area meeting that occurred nearly a
year ago, just after the drug scandal surfaced. At the meeting, where
attendance was by invitation only and from which the press was barred,
about 20 Mexican-American leaders hosted Police Chief Terrell Bolton and
several officers whom he brought along.

Conveniently, most of the officers were Mexican-American. Imagine the odds.

The leaders included former state Rep. Domingo Garcia, LULAC national
President Hector Flores and Dallas LULAC official Adrian Rodriguez.

According to several people who were in the room, Chief Bolton got right to
the point. He reportedly said that the scandal had put the media on a
"witch hunt" and that his main concern - apart from what could happen to
him, of course - was that some of the hunted could be Latino peace
officers, including some in the top ranks of the department.

That there even are Latinos in the hierarchy speaks well of efforts by the
city's first black police chief to diversify the brass. While
African-Americans have been the greatest beneficiaries, there are some
Latino faces in high places. The trouble is that a few of them just happen
to be in the chain of command that ultimately will have to answer for the
fake drug scandal.

It was those diversity efforts, Chief Bolton was said to have warned, that
would suffer if anyone were to fan the fires of this controversy.
Translation: calm your people down, or watch your people lose their jobs.

Here's the ugliest part: The Mexican-American leaders were gullible enough
to fall for it. They have kept their mouths shut ever since and thus shamed
themselves and their community. They also sent a message to immigrants: "We
won't protect you. You are on your own."

About that, there is no question.

When I asked Chief Bolton about the meeting, he said that he remembered it
but that he didn't recall what it was about or what was discussed.

"There was some confusion," Chief Bolton said. "It was a very confusing
meeting. There were these factions, and they seemed unsure of what the
meeting was about, and so the meeting broke up. And that's really all I
remember about it."

Funny. I think I have a pretty good idea what the meeting was about. What
confuses me is why this man is still drawing a paycheck.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is an editorial writer and columnist for The Dallas
Morning News.