Mexico crackdown draws little ire

U.S. outcry dwarfs response to neighbor’s migrant raids

Central American migrants sit together in a Veracruz, Mexico, hotel last month during a raid by immigration agents.
Central American migrants sit together in a Veracruz, Mexico, hotel last month during a raid by immigration agents.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican police, soldiers and National Guard are raiding hotels, buses and trains to round up migrants, and while the scenes have caused an outcry in the United States, there has been little backlash in Mexico.

Mexico has historically had a deep sympathy for the plight of migrants, but President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's reputation as a popular leftist has muted the response to the crackdown.

Add to this the disruption caused by migrant caravans in Mexican border cities, and the threats of border closures or tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump, and it has all led many Mexicans to see the waves of migrants as a problem.

The first caravan got a warm welcome in October. But even for Mexicans who don't think Central Americans take jobs from Mexicans or cause increased crime -- accusations routinely heard, especially in southern Mexico -- there is a sense that too many migrants have come.

"The truth is that it is a problem for everyone. It's better that they be sent back to their countries," said Jorge Parada Leon, a Mexico City message delivery worker. "Crossing Mexico the way they do is dangerous, a lot of them have died ... they should fix the problems they have in their home countries."

Many Mexicans are also angered by the idea that Mexico would contribute money for development aid in Central America.

Lopez Obrador "should focus on the people instead of being compassionate with the migrants who come from other countries," said Argelia Miranda Vazquez, a government employee. "He should support the [Mexican] people. And the others? Well, let their governments take care of their own people."

Some have criticized the crackdown. The head of Mexico's National Immigration Institute, Tonatiuh Guillen, resigned when the crackdown was announced in June to head off Trump's threat of tariffs on Mexican products. Porfirio Munoz Ledo, the congressional leader of Lopez Obrador's Morena party, said that "it is morally unacceptable that on one hand, we demand they [the U.S.] open the doors for us, but we close them in the faces of Central Americans, in order to do the United States' dirty work."

Lopez Obrador acknowledges the crackdown was implemented to avoid U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports threatened by Trump in late May.

"A few days ago we were able to overcome a possible economic and political crisis, by means of an immigration agreement that requires us to be stricter in enforcing immigration laws," he said. "We have established a relationship of respect and friendship with the people and government of the United States and this has allowed us to avoid confrontation that wouldn't benefit anyone."

Even some of the most outspoken defenders of migrants are defending Lopez Obrador's crackdown on the porous southern border, where migrants from across the world simply wade or ride rafts across rivers marking the border.

Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, who runs a shelter for migrants in southern Mexico and has fiercely criticized past administrations, said that "someone had to impose order on the border ... everyone was crossing there without the slightest problem."

Solalinde, who is close to Lopez Obrador and calls him by his given name, added: "Let's be clear about this. This isn't what Andres Manuel's administration wanted; it is what it was able to do" in the face of Trump's threats.

Solalinde blamed a series of four or five immigrant caravans that brought thousands of migrants in 2018 and early 2019 that overwhelmed border cities.

"They were irresponsible in bringing migrants to the northern border and exposing them to risks in such a brutal way. They herded the migrants up to the border and caused a big international problem between the two countries," Solalinde said.

Irineo Mujica is the leader of the group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, or Village Without Borders. He has helped lead those caravans, but he now says they shouldn't happen again, acknowledging that the waves of migrants were "used for political purposes" in the United States. Trump cited them frequently during the 2018 midterm elections.

But Mujica, who was briefly arrested at the start of Lopez Obrador's crackdown, thinks there was a campaign in the media and on the Internet to smear the migrants.

"This was the contribution of the news media," Mujica said. "For example, when they said the Central Americans are forcing their way in, when in fact they had opened the door to them. Saying they had burned the Mexican flag, or they left garbage behind, or depicting them as ungrateful."

The activist thinks that in the long run, the crackdown will force migrants into more dangerous routes, and eventually become a political embarrassment for Lopez Obrador.

"This won't be a definitive political cost for his administration, but it will continue to damage him," Mujica said. "This situation is going to continue to get worse, and that will mean more kidnappings, more human-rights violations, more extortions. This will mean more deaths of migrants ... this is definitely a blow to the credibility he had."

A Section on 07/09/2019

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