The migrant protests in California against the persecutions unleashed by Donald Trump are spreading to other US capitals, where millions of Mexicans live and work, many facing deportation. They are leaving a political wave that is strongly felt in Mexico, both on the human and economic fronts. Negotiations between the two countries, tense for months over tariffs, have shifted toward immigration issues with thorny statements from all sides, including accusations by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who has accused Claudia Sheinbaum of instigating violence in California, something the president has strongly rejected. All of Mexico’s governors, regardless of their political party, have signed an institutional letter of support for the president. “She has never called for violent protests,” on the contrary, she has always “emphasized the value of dialogue as a way to resolve differences,” they said.
The always difficult bilateral relations have now become entangled in the remittances migrants send to their Mexican families and the possibility of taxing them with a 3.5% tax. This, along with the persecution of migrants, has stirred up the eternal political hornets’ nest. If, as some analysts already point out, anxiety about next year’s US elections is behind all this, as that date approaches, Mexico will spend long months under crossfire between Democrats and Republicans, with migration being the battering ram in the fight, as in every campaign.
Trump doesn’t need an election to fuel the fire, anyway. He’s been doing so since winning the presidential election, and migration is a source of fuel for the statements of many of his co-religionists. Kristi Noem’s words aren’t the only ones making waves. Republican senators like Eric Schmitt are gloating over remittance taxes, directly alluding to the anger this will provoke in Sheinbaum.
Mexicans are closing ranks again against the foreign enemy. The institutional letter signed by the governors, in which they smooth over relations between the two countries and reaffirm their commitment to national unity and international cooperation, was joined by statements from the president of Morena, María Luisa Alcalde, who came out in defense of her president, recalling that neither she nor the party has ever encouraged violence. And in the lower house, Morena supporters have drafted a letter condemning the situation their compatriots are experiencing abroad, which they intend to send to the United States Representatives. Before doing so, they will seek consensus with the other political parties to present a united front. For their part, Morena senators discussed a possible demonstration in front of the US Embassy on Paseo de la Reforma in the capital this Tuesday. Ultimately, there was disagreement, and those plans were thwarted. This withdrawal and the support from all sides for the pacifism advocated by the president seem destined to cool the dust that has been unleashed in three days by the migrant protests, which does nothing to help Mexico in its economic negotiations.
“The Mexican flags waved at the Los Angeles protests are doing Mexico a disservice; they leave it at a disadvantage for further negotiations,” says Arturo Rocha, who was director general of Human Mobilizations in the previous Mexican Foreign Ministry. He believes the “cool head” strategy that has characterized Mexico’s stance in its relations with Donald Trump should continue. He believes the flags seen in all the photographs represent a “strategic error by the Mexican community in Los Angeles that, in addition to being risky for them given the Republican’s totalitarian drift, could have repercussions in the negotiations and only provide ammunition for the anti-immigrant electorate, already xenophobic,” says the former official, who believes Sheinbaum’s statements about the pacifism that should prevail in the mobilizations is the right path.
Around $62 billion in remittances enter Mexico annually, and a 3.5% tax like the one being discussed in the US House of Representatives would open a huge hole in the Mexican economy. The latest 50% tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum exports, for example, are still uncertain. The latest news reports indicate that Trump could back down and return to the same conditions that existed when he first governed. Any escalation of his tone could harm the difficult economic path Mexico is embarking on with its main partner. What is happening in California and other cities “is harsh and worrying, because it is clear that the United States is using it as a pretext to commit abuses, with arbitrary and racist measures. In authoritarian systems, crises are manufactured to exploit extralegal forces in favor of power,” says Rocha. And the California example seems relevant to him, because troops are being sent there that have not even been requested by the State, given the peaceful nature of the protests.
In Rocha’s opinion, Mexico must clarify its strategy and make stronger calls for respect for Mexicans there, especially those who could end up in prison and deported to third countries with poor human rights guarantees. This is the key focus of the dialogue, the former official maintains. “It’s not about raising the tone,” he maintains, “but clearly rejecting violence in the demonstrations is a success.”
Source: elpais
