After elections, immigration will define Mexico-EU bilateral relationship

New York and Washington. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, often repeats in his campaign events that he forced the Mexican government to deploy 28,000 troops to the border in order to stop the migratory flow and that he forced him to accept the “stay” program. in Mexico.”

The bilateral relationship with Mexico, according to Trump, worked perfectly when what he ordered was done, whether in matters of immigration or in the renegotiation of the trade agreement.

Although Trump is one of the most lying politicians, his advisors affirm that the former president sincerely believes that immigrants, including Mexicans, “poison the blood of our country” – a phrase with Nazi origins – and now promises to carry out mass deportations, and “ “bloodiest” of immigrants in history.

In fact, controlling migratory flows has been the priority of the current United States government in its relationship with Mexico. The bilateral relationship, although it includes a wide range of trade, security, anti-narcotics, environmental issues and more, has been defined by the immigration issue largely due to the electoral dispute of the last year and as a direct consequence of Trump’s strategy. to place that issue at the center of the dispute.

Some attribute Trump’s most extreme anti-immigrant statements and threats to electoral logic, but others warn that some detailed plans have been drawn up to “close” the border to migratory flows and suspend some of the already restrictive measures to request the asylum regardless of whether they violate national and international law. Even more, they remember that measures as extreme as tearing some 5,000 children from their parents’ arms were implemented during his presidency until a federal court stopped the practice and ordered family reunification, although there are still cases where this has not been achieved until the date.

The architect of this measure against families, advisor Stephen Miller, who when he was in the Trump White House proposed that the government “remove all the children [indocumentados] of schools,” as reported by New Yorker This week, he is the one who is now developing the plans of the former and possible future president for the mass deportation of the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants – half of them Mexican. Miller has said that the goal will be to deport one million per year, and that the operation will include raids, the construction and/or expansion of detention centers and transportation to expel them from the country.

Some doubt that they will have the resources for something so expensive and complex – an analysis by the American Immigration Council, a non-partisan center, estimates that it would require 66 billion annually to achieve it between the construction of detention centers, the hiring of thousands of agents more, and the logistics of deportations. Furthermore, according to the same analysis, a massive deportation plan to expel the 11 million undocumented immigrants and another 2 million who have temporary authorization in the country over 10 years, would lead to an economic crisis, leaving millions in poverty. of Americans and would subtract almost a trillion dollars from the federal government’s coffers. (https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/mass-deportation).

But even if it is not fully implemented, experts point out that the sole threat of mass arrests and deportation of undocumented immigrants is the strategy, that is, generating massive fear among communities. To nourish this fear, it is assumed that broad discretion will be given to immigration authorities to conduct operations.

For Trump and his strategists, the immigration issue is their best card in the race, and they are more than willing to discard the implications of using it for bilateral relations with Mexico and other Latin American countries, nor do they care about the real internal consequences of their proposal. .

Immigrant defense organizations warn that the consequences of a renewed offensive against migrants within the country and against those who are on their way will generate enormous tensions both inside and outside this country, and especially with Mexico as the country of origin of most of the migrants. immigrants who cross the border and increasingly as a transit country for those seeking to reach the US border.

Trump, his running mate JD Vance and their allies insist every day that the lack of public safety, drug addiction, lack of housing and access to health care, and decent wages is the fault of immigrants who “come here from prisons and asylums.” ”, and that they come to murder, drug, rape and rob Americans. They even eat pets. Not only that, but now, with the emergencies caused by the hurricanes, Republicans claim that federal agencies do not have enough resources because the government of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has spent them supporting the entry of “illegals.” Furthermore, they accuse that these undocumented immigrants are being allowed to enter so that they can vote for Democrats.

And the concern of this persecution is not limited only to the undocumented, but to the hundreds of thousands who for now enjoy temporary permits and stays pending the evaluation of their cases, or even for those who enjoy a permit granted under a executive order because they arrived with their families in this country when they were minors, the so-called Dreamers. Trump has indicated that he will seek to overturn these temporary authorizations.

The constant accusations against immigrants by Trump and his team have generated more hate crimes and death threats and other acts of intimidation not only against immigrants, but their defenders in various parts of the country, creating new previously non-existent conflicts throughout the border, but also in inland towns in Ohio, Colorado and Florida.

And that’s before he gets to the White House.