Stop the presses! USA Today has discovered that, lo and behold, Mexicans are also growing tired of the mass inundation of illegal aliens in their country.
One of the side effects of the Biden Border Rush is that many Third Worlders passing through Mexico on their way to the U.S. wound up, at least for now, staying in Mexico.
The article, written by Lauren Villagran, is entitled, “As Trump plans mass deportation, Mexican views of migration harden.”
Here’s how it begins:
“Marta Castillo is angry about immigration. There are too many migrants in her town, she said, and they don’t speak the language. ‘We’ve been invaded,’ she said, standing outside a restaurant where she works. ‘I changed my opinion (about them), because I live in a place where we didn’t see any of this. But now everywhere there are people who aren’t from here.’”
“Castillo is Mexican. She lives in Mexico. Like a growing number of her fellow citizens, she has become increasingly negative about the migrants who have poured into her community – despite living in a country where millions of people have ties to someone who migrated to the United States.”
Villagran makes this connection:
“As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, he is demanding Mexico do more to crack down on the tens of thousands of migrants in Mexico who are headed for the U.S. border. He may find support in an unlikely corner ‒ among Mexicans themselves.”
Villagran cites an Oxfam Mexico poll from 2023 which reported that seven out of 10 Mexicans considered migration into Mexico as “excessive.” Over half said immigration has a negative effect, or at least no positive effect, on Mexico’s economy or culture.
A more recent poll conducted by the UN refugee agency was published in October. In that survey, “nearly a third of respondents believed migrants should be allowed only to transit rapidly through Mexico to the U.S. [!], while 13% believed their border should be closed and migrants deported.”
Depending on how the situation develops, that 13% could grow in the future.
“Mexicans are increasingly facing immigration concerns similar to those seen in the United States. They’re wrestling with questions like how to accommodate and provide for people arriving with few resources and who don’t speak Spanish,” Villagran writes.
Hey, what happened to “diversity is our strength”?
The article describes a migrant tent camp in a plaza in downtown Mexico City:
“The Mexican neighbors who live near the plaza have grown frustrated. Anger boiled over in February, when local media reported police responded to a physical altercation between locals and Haitians in which two people were injured.”
The NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) principle is strongly at work here:
“Negative views in Mexico tend to be stoked by proximity, especially when large numbers of people take up in encampments, said Tony Payan, executive director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University. People generally support migration ‘if immigrants are in a shelter locked away and don’t affect their day-to-day,’ he said. ‘As soon as they feel there is interference with their daily activities, then the underlying racism, prejudice and xenophobia become apparent.’”
Marta Castillo, quoted at the beginning of the article, says, “I understand and comprehend that in the country they came from they’re going through a difficult situation, but everyone should resolve their problems in their own country.”
Amen to that, sister!
Mexico resident Raul Priviesca Zara complains about immigrant crime: “There are many Venezuelans and Cubans who come here to steal, to make their mafia. We’re giving them asylum and refuge so they can steal from our people. I agree that we should help people, just not those who come to steal or do crime – and the majority come for that.”
Wow, if an American said that he’d be branded “xenophobic”!
Mexicans have enough homegrown problems without masses of foreigners setting up camp in their midst.
Mexico needs a tighter immigration policy, not just to please Donald Trump, but to protect its own people.