Mexican anger at US tax plan
Trump’s rhetoric may result in suspension of border controls
AMEXICAN minister has said his government would stop its US-backed border controls at the southern border if US President Donald Trump follows through on his border tax promise.
Trump’s plan to impose heavy border taxes on Mexico could see the the suspension of a security programme with Washington at Mexico’s southern border, which stops immigrants and refugees fleeing conflicts in Central America from coming into Mexico as they try to seek asylum in the US.
“There is so much at stake for the interest of the US as a country,” Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.
The minister warned that Trump’s rhetoric against his country and its people could see the Mexican government less willing to “keep on co-operating in things at the heart of (US) national security issues”.
“You cannot ask me to (accept poor) conditions in terms of trade and then request my help to manage migration issues from other nations or the prosecution of criminal activities and narcotics,” he added.
For the past three years, Mexico has virtually locked its southern border as part of Programa Frontera Sur initiated by President Barack Obama in order to stop the flow of refugees from countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
In recent years, Mexico has also become a hotspot for refugees fleeing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. Last year, at least 7 500 people from Africa came into Mexico according to government figures.
As part of the security co-operation with Mexico, US agents are stationed in detention centres across Mexico in order to vet refugees from Muslim-majority countries who are applying for asylum in the US.
However, it is not clear whether threats to suspend the programme would materialise in the event of a Trump border tax.
One of the main promises of Trump’s presidential campaign was building a wall in order to stop the flow of what Trump calls criminals, drug dealers and rapists from entering the US. But, in fact, over the past few years more Mexicans have been leaving the US than coming in, according to official statements.
Humberto Roque Villanueva, deputy secretary of Population, Migration and Religious Affairs, told Mexico’s La Jornada that while his government has been accused of doing “the dirty work” of the US, the country would not abandon border controls at the southern border over Trump’s hostile policies for “legal, human and crime-prevention reasons”.