The United States government continues to revoke visas and impose sanctions on Mexican politicians. This time, it was the turn of José Luis Dagnino, the mayor of San Felipe, Baja California, a member of the Morena party, who was detained while attempting to cross the border at Calexico, California.
Dagnino López was detained last Tuesday by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, who confirmed the revocation of his visa. The mayor was traveling to San Bernardino, California, to attend an event to receive a donation for his municipality’s fire department, an event he was unable to attend due to his detention.
The mayor stated that after being held for several hours at the CBP office, he was released and returned through the Mexicali border crossing. Following his detention, the Morena party member indicated that he did not receive an official explanation for the measure.
“I wish to transparently report a personal situation that occurred on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 2nd. While completing the necessary paperwork to request entry permits to the United States, I was notified of the revocation of my tourist visa. It is important to clarify that, to this point, I have not received any official information regarding the cause or reason that led the U.S. authorities to make this decision, similar to what has happened with various public figures in the country and in our state,” the mayor wrote on Facebook.
Context: The United States government has revoked the visas of at least 50 politicians and government officials in Mexico, according to information provided to Reuters by two Mexican officials in October. This action is part of the Trump administration’s offensive against drug cartels and their alleged political allies.
Although only a handful of cases have been made public, the visa cancellations for politicians affect approximately 50 officials affiliated with the Morena party.
In August, the U.S. government revoked the visa of Alejandro González, head of the Tax Agency in San Luis Río Colorado and son of former mayor Santos González Yescas.
The suspension occurred on Saturday, August 23, at the San Luis, Arizona, border crossing, when CBP officers sent him for secondary inspection and notified him of the visa revocation.
That same month, Juan Manuel Ruiz Hernández, legal director of the Nogales, Sonora, City Council, was detained while attempting to cross the border into the United States.
In addition, immigration authorities also detained the mayor of Nogales, Juan Francisco Gim Nogales, confiscating two cell phones and a computer, and revoking his visa.
In August, the mayor of Mexicali, Norma Alicia Bustamante, confirmed that her husband, Luis Samuel Guerrero, lost his U.S. visa; however, both Bustamante and her husband had their visas revoked.
In June, the measure reached Sonora, where the mayor of Puerto Peñasco, Óscar Eduardo Castro Castro, lost his visa when trying to enter with his family through the Lukeville, Arizona border crossing.
Source: lasillarota
