Here are 8 concrete steps Mexico needs to take to prepare for Trump’s deportations.
The advent of the Trump presidency leaves Mexico with little choice but to hope for the best and plan for the worst. At least one would think so. In reality, Mexico doesn’t seem to be doing much of either—they can see the storm approaching, but haven’t done enough to prepare.
With just 10 days to go before Trump’s inauguration, Mexico appears unready to deal with a new U.S. president who built his campaign by railing against their country and people. For many Mexicans, that lack of strategy is unsettling.
Trump has promised to impose trade tariffs on Mexican exports, renegotiate NAFTA, build a border wall, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. His intentions aren’t a secret. But all Mexico has really done to prep itself is appoint a new foreign affairs minister who has ties to Trump’s inner circle.
Former foreign affairs minister Jorge G. Castañeda is urging Mexico to make efforts to slow the U.S. deportation process by asking U.S. authorities for documented proof that everyone they try to remove to Mexico are in fact Mexican citizens. There are also calls for Mexico to defend international protocols that supposedly limit Trump’s administration to 60,000 deportations per year—a far cry from the millions the next U.S. president wants to oust “immediately.”
Mexico does have some leverage, especially when it comes to binational security cooperation and restricting the flow of northbound immigrants from Central America.
But overall the country doesn’t seem ready to play hardball with Trump. The weakened administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto will be at a major disadvantage when it comes to dealing with a hawkish White House and a Republican Congress, which will seek to strengthen the conservative’s grip on the federal court system that oversees immigration cases.
Here are eight things that Mexico needs to get working on now.
Debunk false narratives
Challenge Trump’s Math
Fund legal defense programs to fight deportations
Identify job opportunities
Expand education programs
Help foster a culture of volunteerism
Project Mexico’s soft power
Create a new ‘Pact for Mexico’
