As promised, the Trump administration is cracking down on illegal immigration. The push to build the border wall continues, and Trump has recently chosen not to renew DACA – the illegal, Obama-era program that circumvented Congress and created a lenient immigration law out of thin air.
Now, though, Mexican citizens living in the USA illegally have gained a baffling ally – the government from their home country. That’s correct: Mexican officials are now helping their own citizens break the laws of the United States in order to keep them from being sent back to Mexico.
On Monday, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray visited California – the capital of resistance to Trump’s immigration policies and, arguably, the capital of illegal immigration as well. There, he met with a number of Californian politicians as well as illegal immigrants in the state to discuss how Mexico could help these illegals continue flying under the radar and avoid deportation.
The many narratives in this story are all telling. One is the fact that Mexican officials are actively helping left-leaning politicians in California undermine the efforts of the Trump administration. For all the flack that Trump and his team have caught for supposedly colluding with Russia, it’s baffling to see Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislative leaders in California openly working with officials from another country to undermine the efforts of our President. The hypocrisy here is thick enough to cut with a knife.
The fact that Mexico would rather commit time and resources to keep their citizens out of Mexico than work towards making their country a place these citizens would want to return to is pretty telling. However, the Mexican government does have a lot to gain by encouraging illegal immigration out of its own borders.
A large portion of the money that illegal immigrants make in the US is sent back to Mexico. Sometimes, the manner in which these transactions take place is legal, but many times it is not. Regardless, this money – also known as “remittances” – is a huge boost to the Mexican economy. In fact, a report written by NPR showed that in 2016, a staggering $28 billion flowed into the Mexican economy in the form of remittances. This means that, last year, Mexico made more money off of illegal immigrants in the United States than they did off of their own oil revenues, which have always been a big part of the Mexican economy.
It’s no real surprise then that Mexico would have a vested interest in keeping illegal immigrants in the United States. What is shocking is the willingness of some of our leaders to collude with them in these efforts. To make matters worse, this comes at a time when our ability to bargain and make deals with the Mexican government is especially important.
The Trump administration has made renegotiating our trade deals with Mexico as well as well as our stance on immigration from Mexico both priorities, and both Trump and members of his team have already been working closely with officials in Mexico. In an interview with The Hill, Mexican Ambassador Gerónimo Gutiérrez expressed his belief that US-Mexico relations were improving, saying, “One for us is clearly the issue of the wall, or paying for the wall. But once those red lines are clear, we understand better each other’s priorities, we do try to find common ground.”
Whether Trump will convince Mexico to pay for the border wall is something that is yet to be seen. One thing we know for sure, though, is that left-wing officials working with Mexican officials to undermine Trump’s agenda is certainly not going to benefit the Trump administration’s relations with the Mexican government, and may likely damage our ability to work with them on these key issues.
If Mexico feels as if they can circumvent Trump and work with his rivals in America — politicians who are willing to undermine their own President and cave to Mexico’s demands — why would they choose to work with the hard-bargaining Trump administration instead?
Without a doubt, the left’s complete disrespect for the rule of law and the authority of the presidency continues to reach new heights and has created a weakness in the united front that the USA is supposed to present. Now, the Mexican government has started to seize the opportunity that this weakness presents.
~ Conservative Zone
This one has an easy solution to me. No, not kill all illegals as appetizing as it is. Simply stop mail, wires, any possible funds transfer to Mexico.