The federal government said Wednesday that more than 5,000 migrants were detained across Mexico on Tuesday, an indication that authorities are clamping down on migratory flows to the northern border ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president on Jan. 20.
The government said in a statement that the Army, Navy, National Guard and state police “rescued” 5,234 migrants during an operation “in support” of the National Immigration Institute.
“Rescued” is a government euphemism for detained that alludes to the fact that migrants face a range of dangers, including human trafficking, as they travel through Mexico toward the country’s northern border.
Many of those detained on Tuesday will likely be deported to their countries of origin.
The government didn’t specify where the more than 5,000 migrants were detained on Tuesday. It did say that 349,625 migrants were “rescued” between Oct. 1 — the day President Claudia Sheinbaum took office — and Dec. 3.
The arrests on Tuesday came after immigration authorities broke up two small migrant caravans late last week.
The detention of a large number of migrants on a single day coincided with the largest fentanyl bust in Mexican history, with authorities seizing more than 1 tonne of the synthetic opioid in Sinaloa.
In any future meetings with Trump or members of his team, the Mexican government could argue that the mass arrest of migrants and the huge fentanyl bust are evidence of its strong action against the flows of people and narcotics to the United States.
Trump campaigned heavily on his plan to stem the flow of migrants and drugs to the United States, and on Nov. 25 declared that he would impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian exports on the first day of his second term as part of his strategy to address the problems.
He asserted in a social media post that the tariff would remain in effect “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump added.
“We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” he said.
The Mexican government has indicated that its argument against the proposed blanket tariff will largely focus on the adverse economic consequences of its implementation. But evidence that it has increased enforcement against migrants and drugs would only strengthen its case.
Sheinbaum spoke to Trump on Nov. 27, and the latter claimed that the Mexican president agreed to “stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border.”
Sheinbaum denied reaching such an agreement, retorting that “Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”
The president has, however, said that migrant caravans don’t reach the northern border because they are “taken care of” in Mexico.
In a letter to Trump last week, Sheinbaum said that Mexico has developed a “comprehensive policy” to attend to migrants who “cross our territory” en route to the United States, and pointed out that migration to the U.S. has declined 75% over the past year, in large part due to President Joe Biden’s implementation of a new border policy in early June.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will act on his most recent tariff threat, but it is clear that Mexico will argue forcefully against the imposition of a duty on exports to its largest trading partner.
Judging by Tuesday’s actions, concrete examples of a crackdown on migrants and drugs could form an important if not central part of the Mexican government’s argument. For Trump, those examples just might be more important than anything else.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
So funny they they are now enforcing this. Just shows how weak Biden is. He never explained why he allowed so many to illegally cross into the US. Maybe someday they become citizens so they can vote Democrat or was it so the rich can have cheap labor. All they had to do was to issue more work permits coming into the US. Many just want work, more more money to send home and then someday return to their homes and family.
Biden at least tries a more humanitarian approach to this where Trump doesn’t care who he hurts…he’s in it for himself.
Growing up in Washington state in 70’s I witnessed the Mexican farm workers travel to work in agriculture in Eastern Washington since at least the 1950’s, I’m sure well before that. It was orderly, the ag workers had hard work, lower wages than the US citizens but it worked in Washington as people would travel north and head back to Mexico post-harvest. It was not perfect, but it worked. My guess is that happened in Idaho, Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico across the entire Western US. It worked and if my memory is correct there was little crime and no calls about racism. Ceasar Chavez in California started the reform movement for Ag workers as there was no doubt problems with large commercial farms and others taking advantage of these folks. With the massive illegal immigration since 2020 and the insane handouts the system was irretrievably broken. Post deportation of people in the US illegally I hope the system can return to the need of workers from Mexico and Central America for jobs with work permits and the need of US Agriculture for the labor.
I think your memory may be mistaken a bit. The number of undocumented immigrants in the US is lower now than in 2006 but overall has remained fairly constant. It spiked significantly from 1990 to 2007. US agriculture business has always used immigrant labor. What has changed is the number of guns and violence in many countries (US guns by the way), and that before an illegal immigrant could work in fields in the US, and then go home for 6 months, and then repeat. Now that is more difficult. I am not saying there isn’t a problem – but the job permit process for ag workers didn’t work before and still doesn’t.
Migrant labor was essential in Oregon when I was growing up in the 60s. I worked side by side with migrant workers picking strawberries and pole beans. For me and my brothers and sister, the farm work provided us with some spending money and it kept us under the adult supervision of the row boss, Esther who was a family friend. For the migrants, including their children who worked beside me, it was their path to meals and gasoline. They stayed in tents, worked very hard, and caused no trouble. Without their labor, Smuckers would not have had fruit to turn into jam for our PBJ sandwiches.
Biden at least tries a more humanitarian approach to this where Trump doesn’t care who he hurts…he’s in it for himself.
Interesting statistic. The 5,000 rescued in a single day seems to be a daily occurrence, if we can believe the 350,000 rescued in the 60 days since Sheinbaum took office.
Mexico sucking up to the USA again
See the huge Fentanyl bust too
Mexico chooses not to act unless forced too