Mexico To Deport Hundreds Of Migrants

The BBC reports that Mexico’s Interior Ministry has issued a statement indicating that every Central American migrant identified as having attempted to breach the US/Mexico border will be deported back to their home country.

This comes after the attempt yesterday to rush the border fence, during which rocks were thrown at border patrol and the crowd which included infants, was dispersed with tear gas.

The migrant caravans are currently stuck in Tijuana, as the United States has closed its port of entry to those seeking asylum.  The United States has only closed the single port of entry, and continues to allow migrants from other places into the US to claim asylum.  It is uncertain why the migrant caravans have been singled out for summary rejection.

Mexico has been seeing a rise in nationalism in response to President Trump’s attacks.  They have also historically had fairly poor relations with Central American countries, viewing people from southern neighbors negatively.

This friction is at the heart of the matter.  Many of President Trump’s supporters want a hardened southern border.  They laud the appearance of a strong stance being taken, ignoring the fact that there has been no significant rise in deportations nor has there been any significant federal action on hardening the border against illegal crossings.

Targeting the Hondurans and El Salvadorans who are trying to enter the United States legally allows the Trump administration to present the image of a hard border to its supporters while continuing to do little about the problem of actual illegal immigration, and allows the Mexican government to demonstrate to its people that they have the whip hand when it comes to negotiation with the United States.

This will prevent people who are seeking asylum merely for a chance to better their lives from doing so.  In the case of any prospective criminals, it prevents their crime from expanding into the United States.  In the case of people who wanted to work legally but had no valid asylum argument, it will eliminate unnecessary costs in processing.  In the case of those who would have been granted asylum, it sends them back to situations where they are likely to be violently abused or killed.