Mexico’s electionMexico’s next president likely to defy Trump on immigration
President Donald Trump has long blamed Mexico for the flow of Central Americans seeking to enter the United States’ southern border, claiming that migrants just cross Mexico like they’re “walking through Central Park.” In truth, since 2014, Mexico has been aggressively pursuing its Southern Border Program to deter migration across Mexico’s border with Guatemala. Most Mexicans now view this policy as an effort to enforce U.S. immigration policy. Mexico’s four presidential candidates argued over many issues, from corruption to the economy, but they all agreed on this: Mexico can no longer maintain its policy of helping enforce U.S. immigration laws.
Editor’s note: This article was written on Friday, 29 June, two days before the Sunday, 1 July, election, won by Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long blamed Mexico for the flow of Central Americans seeking to enter the United States’ southern border.
Migrants just cross Mexico like they’re “walking through Central Park,” Trump once claimed.
In truth, Mexico is aggressive in enforcing U.S. immigration policy. In 2014 President Enrique Peña Nieto implemented a robust deterrence effort, the Southern Border Program, to deter migration across Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Between 2014 and 2015, Mexican deportations of Central Americans traveling to the U.S.– primarily Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans – more than doubled, from 78,733 in 2013 to 176,726 in 2015. During the same period, U.S. border agents detained half as many Central American migrants at the border.
That compliant attitude is about to change. Mexicans elect their next president – and 18,000 other elected officials, from mayors all the way up to senators – on Sunday, 1 July. It is the biggest and most expensive election in Mexico’s history. And Trump’s draconian new immigration policies, which include detaining children and criminally prosecuting migrants, have taken center stage in the presidential race.
Mexico’s four presidential candidates argue over many issues, from corruption to the economy. But they all agree on this: Mexico can no longer maintain its policy of helping enforce U.S. immigration laws.
Nobody’s piñata
Presidential front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador is an outspoken Trump critic who recently denounced separating migrant families as “arrogant, racist and inhuman.”
He is widely expected to win on Sunday. The 64-year-old leftist has led the four-way race for months and currently has 49 percent of voter support, according to the latest polls.
