“A campaign is required to avoid a wave of xenophobia, which can be given given the large number of migrant Mexicans and people from other nationalities who are already in Mexico and will have a strong demand for support and services,” says Efraín Jiménez, Coordinator of the Collective of Mexican Federations and Organizations (Colefom), which brings together 102 Mexican organizations living in the United States.
“It is not only the return of migrant Mexicans, but there are already more than 260,000 people who were stranded in border areas, plus other caravans that are on their way to the north and, when the ‘CBP One’ and the possibility of asking for asylum, they are going to stay in Mexican cities, ”he anticipates.
On Saturday, Trump ordered tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China to impose on what he described as extraordinary threat that illegal immigrants and drugs represent, including the “mortal fentanyl”.
“President Trump is taking bold measures to demand from Mexico, Canada and China to fulfill their promises to stop illegal immigration and prevent poisonous fentanil and other drugs from entering our country,” said the White House.
“The sustained flow of illegal immigrants has deep consequences on all aspects of our national life: it saturates our schools, reduces our salaries, reduces our housing offer and increases rentals, overpops our hospitals, exhausts our social welfare system and causes crimes “He added.
Jiménez, who is part of the Mexican community that resides in the United States, considers a “situation of xenophobia” to migrants, even in Mexico.
“Yes, a situation of xenophobia can be generated in Mexico if we do not begin to do with time an education, dissemination campaign that highlights what migrants contribute, not only migrant Mexicans, but also migrants on arrival or in transit, all” , he pointed out.
Experience indicates that, although it is a common place to point out that Mexico is hospitable, Jiménez adds, there have already been cases of discrimination and abuse.
In Mexico City, considered “sanctuary city”, it is guaranteed, at least in its local constitution, the right to migrate and there is an intercultural law. However, the eviction of a migrant camp on June 6, 2024 was recorded.
That day were evicted by the National Institute of Migration (INM) and the National Guard (Gen) hundreds of migrants, mostly from Haiti, but also from Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras and El Salvador.
“If you see a migrant,” were the legends of posters that placed neighbors of the Juárez neighborhood, to two streets of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).
Today migrants agglomerate in the new headquarters of the region on Los Remedios Avenue, in Colonia Luis Tlatilco, Naucalpan, where they hope to process an appointment to request asylum in Mexico and obtain a permission to stay in the country.
Andrea González, an expert in migration of the Faculty of Philosophy of the UNAM and member of the Migration Observatory in Mexico City, warns that the repetition of cases such as that of Bruno Giordano square should be avoided.
It is time to generate empathy. We are a country that has millions of Mexican people living in the United States, we all have family, friends, who live there and we know what it means that the situation of xenophobia, violence, discrimination that they live in that country. Mexican society must be prepared not to reproduce those schemes. ”
Andrea González, expert in migration of the Faculty of Philosophy of the UNAM.
“What we have to do is start that national laws and international standards have to comply with migrant human rights promotion, that is, it is not an option not to do so, we have obligations as a State,” he added.
Tariffs for Mexico
After several days of threats, the president fulfilled this Saturday his promise to impose tariffs for Mexico, Canada and China. President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, counterattacked with tariffs back to US products.
Since his campaign, even since he was first in power, Trump justified tariffs for the “little action” of governments to stop the traffic of fentanyl and the flow of migrants to the United States.
“This tariff will remain in force until drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal migrants stop this invasion of our country!” Said the president of the United States.
With a similar threat, Donald Trump managed to sign the federal government in 2019 – with then President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – a joint statement in which Mexico agreed to deploy elements of the National Guard to contain irregular migrants, as well as receive to asylum seekers of other nationalities.
Then, the measure resulted in a 46% reduction in the migratory flow during the first period of the Republican. Now, on your return to the White House, Trump applies the same formula with Mexico.
