A new poll by the Mexican newspaper El Universal shows that since October 2018, more Mexicans support stricter immigration enforcement to keep illegal immigrants from entering Mexico. Last October, the percentage of Mexicans who agreed that tougher immigration was necessary was 49%; that percentage has risen to 61%.
As Newsbusters reports, “The poll also found that 54% of Mexicans are opposed to their government offering work visas to the asylum-seeking wave of Central Americans flooding into their country. The same poll also found that 47% of Mexicans believe President Trump will deliver on his threats to impose tariffs on Mexican imports, while 21% do not.”
Newsbusters also translated the segment of the June 12, 2019 late night edition of Noticiero Univision, in which anchor Arantxa Loizaga and correspondent Alejandro Madrigal discussed Mexicans’ tougher stance on immigration, with Madrigal expounding, “In Mexico, the presence of the immigrants is now starting to become irritating. Six out of every 10 Mexicans agree that the Government should prevent them from crossing, and only one in ten people think they should be allowed to travel freely through the country. This according to a survey in the Mexican newspaper El Universal.”
Madrigal added, “According to the survey, 44 percent of Mexicans believe that the government of President Andres Manuel López Obrador should immediately expel immigrants from the country, and 57 percent do not believe the Government should allow them into the national territory.”
The New York Times reported on June 3, “In recent weeks, the Mexican authorities have been breaking up migrant caravans and setting up round-the-clock roadblocks along common routes north … But their recent enforcement efforts aside, Mexican officials admit that their southern border is highly porous, with thousands of migrants slipping across every month through hundreds of known illegal crossings.”
In April, USA Today reported, “Mexican authorities said a group of about 350 migrants broke the locks on a border gate Friday and forced their way into southern Mexico to join a larger group of migrants trying to make their way toward the United States. The National Immigration Institute did not identify the nationalities of the migrants, but they are usually from Central America. A similar confrontation occurred on the same border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala last year.”
Transcript of the Univision segment below from Newsbusters:
ARANTXA LOIZAGA, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: In Mexico, the policy of President Trump to indiscriminately expel undocumented immigrants in the United States has generated a lot of criticism. But now, according to a survey from the newspaper El Universal, 44 percent of those who participated in this poll believe that President López Obrador ought to expel from Mexico all the migrants who are there irregularly. Alejandro Madrigal takes up the issue.
ALEJANDRO MADRIGAL, CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: In Mexico, the presence of the immigrants is now starting to become irritating. Six out of every 10 Mexicans agree that the Government should prevent them from crossing, and only one in ten people think they should be allowed to travel freely through the country. This according to a survey in the Mexican newspaper El Universal.
FIRST UNIDENTIFIED MAN ON THE STREET: Stop them and return them in a dignified way, not… not with violence.
SECOND UNIDENTIFIED MAN ON THE STREET: I would simply not let them go through because, as I mentioned, we already have enough problems of our own.
MADRIGAL: According to the survey, 44 percent of Mexicans believe that the government of President Andres Manuel López Obrador should immediately expel immigrants from the country, and 57 percent do not believe the Government should allow them into the national territory. In the Government of Mexico there are also beginning to appear differences with the measures being taken to stop immigrants on the southern border. Among them, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo.
PORFIRIO MUÑOZ LEDO, PRESIDENT, MEXICAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES: Yesterday the National Guard agents left to put our wall. Because that’s what it is, the National Guard that was created to fight criminals, not to fight immigrants.
MADRIGAL: The survey also asks Mexicans about the permits that the Mexican Government grants to immigrants so that they can work in this country. 57 percent are opposed. The topic of the tariffs was also included. To avoid them, the Mexican Government will strengthen the northern border.
ALEJANDRO ENCINAS, UNDERSECRETARY OF GOVERNMENT: No, I hope and calculate that in the coming months we will top more than 50 thousand people.
MADRIGAL: Although 47 percent of Mexicans believe that President Trump will deliver on his threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports. President López Obrador has insisted that he will not enter into conflict with the government of the United States. But 90 percent of Mexicans are asking him to answer each and every aggressions made by Donald Trump, according to the survey. In Mexico City, Alejandro Madrigal, Univision.