Trump backs down on Wall funding as Mexican officials bite back
Fears amplified after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 11 farmworkers in Woodburn, Ore. in February. Four of them now are facing possible deportation, striking fear through the immigrant community in Oregon and throughout the U.S.
“The first thing I do in the morning is, as a Mexican, I sign the cross in the name of God,” said Mariana Alvarez Florez, a farm worker. “The fear is like a barrier I have to overcome because I have rent and bills waiting.”
According to a survey conducted by the USDA, immigrants working in the country illegally make up 67 percent of farmworkers in fruit and nut farms, 61 percent in vegetables, and 35 percent in nurseries.
Mexican officials didn't take the news of Trump's back down quietly and have voiced their disapproval of such a wall since it became a part of Trump's presidential campaign. Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray tore into the idea of building a border wall, calling it “unfriendly, “a hostile act” and “unlikely to fulfill the objectives” of stopping the flow of migrants and illegal merchandise into the United States.
Appearing before the international relations commission in the lower house of Congress, Videgaray unleashed uncharacteristically tough talk on Donald Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for building a border wall, telling lawmakers that Mexico would not put a peso towards the construction costs. He also called plans for fencing off the frontier “an absolute waste of money” and said Mexico would pursue legal measures if its borders were infringed upon by the wall.
“The wall is not part of any bilateral discussion nor should it be,” Videgaray said. “Under no scenario will we contribute economically to an action of this kind.”
Political analysts in Mexico saw Trump’s difficulties in persuading his own country’s Congress on key campaign promises – repealing and replacing Obamacare and finding funding for a border wall – as an opportunity for Mexican functionaries, who have preferred to not antagonize Trump, to take a tougher tone.
“Tough talk about the wall right now, right after Trump backing down, is low risk and comes without cost,” said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a Professor at the Centre for Research and Teaching of Economics in Mexico City. “(Trump’s) been all bark, no bite.”
Trump’s insistence on building a border wall has complicated Mexico-US relations, which had become close and cooperative on trade, commerce and security matters after decades of indifference and mutual distrust.
source: theguardian.com, agweb.com
