Historian, essayist, and publisher Enrique Krauze, recognized as one of the world’s leading visionaries on Mexico’s political future, says the current U.S. election season fights over Mexican immigration is a disturbing sign of growing American isolationism that this country can ill afford.

“You have, already within the United States, tens of millions of Mexicans. Whatever the outcome of (the current controversy over immigration laws), this is something that will stay like it is and probably grow,” Krauze said in an afternoon interview at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock prior to his Oct. 27 Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture at the UALR Center for Performing Arts.

“So you have, in a way, a part of Mexico living within the United States. To ignore that part of Mexico now is not only to ignore your neighbor, it is also to ignore a part of yourself.”

Krauze is the founder and editor-in-chief of Letras Libres and founder and director of Editorial Clío. He was previously assistant editor and vice-editor of Vuelta, from 1991-1996. Among his many books, he has written Caudillos culturales en la Revolución Mexicana (1976) and y Tarea política (2000). He is author of documentaries and television series about Mexican history including Mexico (PBS, 1988). In 1993, he was awarded the Premio Comillas de Biografía in Spain.

Krauze’s lecture coincided with the Arkansas Mexico 2010 Celebration to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and 100th anniversary of the country’s revolution. The celebration, organized to give Arkansans a chance to learn more about Mexican history and culture, was one of numerous celebrations across the U.S. held in cities with a Mexican embassy or consulate.

Despite the passage of the stringent anti-immigration law by Arizona and Tea Party anger over illegal immigration, Krauze said the border tensions over immigration are “benign” compared with over waves of immigration the U.S. has experienced in the past or immigration tensions other countries currently are experiencing.

“Only a racist outlook could consider it (Mexican immigration) different from the big waves of immigration you had here of Polish, Irish, Jewish, Italians, whatever, that made this country,” he said. “The miracle of the U.S. is immigration, and here you have a country that in many ways is becoming more isolationist and rejecting its origin — the moral core of its origin.”

Krauze also was asked about the current Mexican drug war, the armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight for regional control, and between the drug cartels and the Mexican government. He said the war plagues both sides of the border, and both countries share the blame and responsibility to resolve it.

He said Mexico is paying the price now for failing to invest in a strong, professional system of criminal justice: “No state can live without police.”

But America’s insatiable appetite for illegal drugs and its love affair with guns cause and exacerbate the outlaw violence strafing Mexico, spilling across the border, and enveloping American citizens.

While Mexico has strict gun control laws, Krauze said Mexicans have easy access to guns from the U.S. “We know there are thousands of stores in the U.S., and due to the amendment (the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment), people can buy their guns,” he said. “During the Clinton administration, there were some limitations to the selling of high caliber weapons to anyone. But my country is flooded with guns, all kinds of guns. So you have the guns, you have the money — you have the perfect storm.”

Efforts are under way to try to stop the violence in Mexico, “but it is going to be very slow and it is going to cost many lives,” he said.

Krauze refused to blame America for Mexico’s drug woes, saying his country in the past has been quick to blame its northern neighbor. But he said the drug war will need the attention of both countries.

“Let’s say the foreign policy of the United States hasn’t been very wise in Latin America through the ages, but there are many things we need to do to put our house in order in Mexico,” he said. But he suggested that the U.S. invest some of its anti-terrorism efforts on the drug war and other problems in Latin America.

“The United States has a big priority to confront terrorism, but look — talk about historical mistakes. I know that now everybody regrets it, but you have spent I don’t know how many trillions of dollars in a war … in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “Just imagine if one tiny part of that attention would be focused on this continent. Let’s make America a better continent.”

Krauze said the United States has a propensity to ignore its southern neighbor, and the American people don’t realize the close economic and cultural ties that are vitally important to both countries.

“It’s a sad thing that here in the 21st century, the general public has not a clear perception of what an intense and important relationship these two neighbors have had through 200 years of history,” said Krauze. “The relationship is very deep.”