Welcome back to America through Mexican eyes. Much has changed in both countries since 2016. This new chapter will highlight some of the changes, in particular as they pertain to a politically charged issue invented by the Trump presidency. The creation of a border wall intended to materially separate the United States and Mexico. But first, let us highlight an important development in Mexico. In July 2018, leftist politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador better known by his initials AMLO was elected president of Mexico. Lopez Obrador election was historic for several reasons. He was the first left-wing candidate to win presidency since the Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920. So it marked a notable shift in Mexican politics. In contrast to the far-right politics spoused by the president of Mexico neighbor to the north. Unlike Trumps alarmist platform for the American public, Lopez Obrador was elected on a platform that sought to combact and there make violence and drug trafficking in parts of Mexico not militarization, but with social programs to ameliorate poverty, the key underlying cause of violence and drug trade. As part of a notable shift towards leftist politics in Mexico, Lopez Obrador also encouraged a much more lenient stance towards immigrants from Central American nations passing through Mexico, a point to which we will return later. The relationship between Mexico and the United States has grown increasingly complex since the election of Donald Trump and the election of his ideological opposite to Mexico's highest office, has undoubtedly contributed to a new disintegration. However, shifts in Mexico-US relations have had a long history that often alters the perceptions that each nation citizens hold about each other. As you might remember from the previous chapters in this module, Mexico and the US have a long history of exchange of people, resources, and ideas. People living on what is now the southern border of the United States often repeat the refrain, "We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." Referring to the various wars and treaties that gradually turned what was once Mexico into present-day Southern and South-West United States. This feeling is especially strong among so-called the Tejanos, culturally Latin people whose family had lived in Texas since the colonial era. Willing to the 20th century, initiatives like the Bracero program brought much needed seasonal labor to American farms through temporary visas for Mexican migrants. Children who live on the border continue to cross every day in order to attend school in the United States, though this has become more difficult. The Mexico-US border has historically been much more porous than it is today. In fact, one in 10 Mexican nationals has a relative living in the United States. Given this long history of migration across the border, the current claim by the Republican Party that undocumented immigration constitutes a "Crisis" necessitating a wall is factually inaccurate. According to the Pew Research Center, annual undocumented immigration to the US fell by more than 1.5 million people between 2007 and 2016 long before Donald Trump came to power. Nonetheless, Trump has consistently demonized Mexicans a standing for Latinos in the US in general as an inherently criminal population who seek to infiltrate and destabilize the US. When Trump officially announced his candidacy in June 2015, he claimed in a speech, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with them. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapist, and some I assume are good people." People on both sides of the border were understandably scandalized by these comments, and companies like NBC Univision, Macy's, and NASCAR got ties with then candidate Trump. Many Mexicans including well-known public intellectuals promised not to visit the United States while Trump was still president. Others called for a boycott in consumption of goods like manufacturers or foodstuffs coming from the United States in favor of national ones. Despite this backlash however, Trump has continued to push the false narrative of a so-called crisis at the border, going so far as to shut down the government from December 2018 until January 2019, 35 days over the issue. While Trump preposterously claimed that Mexico will be made to pay for the wall at 2016 meeting between candidate Trump and then Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto made clear to both countries citizens that this was a lie, many would say a joke, on the contrary Pena Nieto's invitation of the real estate tycoons slash reality TV star to Mexico was one key factor that explains why the long ruling party the PRI, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, lost the election in 2018. Much of the Mexican electorate did not forgive Pena Nieto or his party for lending legitimacy to a candidate who was stridently anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican. In Mexican eyes, the Trump administration's draconian initiatives at the US-Mexico border have been shocking. These include separating a currently unknown number of children from their parents indefinitely since 2013. A rarity that became the norm under President Trump, denying immigrants the right to apply for asylum at illegal port of entry since April 2018, in clear violation of international law and deploying the national guard to prevent the entrance of so-called "Migrant Caravan" on US soil in October of 2018. In contrast, Mexican and their president support a different platform of addressing the root cause of migration, poverty. Both the Mexican people and their leaders proactively supported the caravans of Central American migrants passing through Mexico by offering food, water, and temporary shelter to those making the long journey seeking the American dream. It is important to emphasize here that not all immigrants trying to enter the United States from Mexico are in fact Mexicans. While Mexicans continue to move between Mexico and the US, immigrants crossing the border increasingly come from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, countries plagued by drug and human trafficking and gang violence. Sociopolitical ills that had been majorly exacerbated by decades of American foreign policy keeping these nations in cycles of poverty and instability. This migrants are often poorer and less educated than Mexican migrants, and often come from indigenous communities where Spanish is a second language. While there are a variety of opinions among Mexicans and Americans about Central American migrants, the Lopez Obrador administration has been singularly outspoken in its support of migrants human rights. The unpredictable and cruel nature of much of the current US administration's policies has led to an almost total freeze in US-Mexican relations, and the two governments currently only interact when absolutely necessary. For example, renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement is currently stopped. Additionally, as of May 2019 there is still no American ambassador to Mexico, a seat vacated since the 2016 election. The astonishing character of American presidential approaches and policies toward Mexico has altered America's image in Mexican eyes. Even as most Mexicans from all walks of life abow the current US president, many today distinguish among the diversity of American citizens recognizing the differences between openly racist and anti-immigration Americans and all others. This Mexican reevaluation of their perceptions of the American populace underscores Mexicans growing ability to distinguish between the government of a country and the people who inhabit it. Much has changed in US-Mexico relations since we originally launched this course. Historically, Mexico and the US often considered each other as friendly neighbors, particularly if you're in the neoliberal period from 1982 to 2001. Some Mexicans of course still wish to work and live in the United States. However, the Mexican people and their government are now looking inward focusing on domestic policy as they wait and hope for this difficult American political moment to pass. At the same time, Mexicans are taking an increased interest in American electoral politics of serving both the national and local levels of politics from afar. These days the average Mexican is in fact simultaneously more interested than ever in learning about American politics and less interested in the American dream for themselves. The fate of Mexican American relations remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure the damage done by Donald Trump will continue long after his and Lopez Obrador's presidencies. America through Mexican eyes today in 2019 is dismal.
