EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Alicia Barcena was in El Paso on Wednesday with a message to residents of Mexican descent uncomfortable with Texas’ aggressive efforts to enforce immigration laws: You are not alone.
“We want Mexican and immigrant communities here to know Mexico will support them whether or not SB4 is enforced,” Mexico’s foreign minister said during the first of four stops in Texas to meet with her 11 consuls general in the state. “We are very concerned; that’s why we are here to promote initiatives like ‘Know your rights,’ legal assistance and 24-hour protection for our nationals.”
SB4 is a Texas law banning local governments from preventing law enforcement from arresting migrants illegally in the country. It’s been blocked by the courts while a federal circuit court weighs whether it’s constitutional.
“SB4 is not in effect, but we need to be prepared as to how we will protect our migrants, our immigrants who live in Texas and in states that are contemplating similar laws,” Barcena said. “We believe it’s a law that discriminates, that is anti-immigrant.”
She emphasized that her country will not accept any migrants, from Mexico or other countries, that Texas attempts to return to Mexico. Repatriation of Mexicans by the U.S. government is still in effect and Mexico accepts the expulsion by the U.S. of other migrants under mutually agreed upon conditions, she said.
SB4 is Texas’ response to what its leaders call inaction from the federal government to rein in historical migration in the past few years. More than 9.4 million migrants have come across the border since the start of fiscal year 2021 either to surrender and request political asylum or try to avoid capture, GOP leaders say citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
The state has surged Guard members and Department of Public Safety troopers as part of the $10 billion Operation Lone Star. It is also building border wall in Maverick and Zapata counties and a forward operations base near Eagle Pass.
Barcena was to visit San Antonio, Eagle Pass and Laredo upon leaving El Paso.
The foreign minister also had a message for Americans leery of record migration in the past few years.
“We hope the people of the United States realize that immigrants are not criminals, that they are working people looking for opportunity and that pose no threat to them,” Barcena said. “It is time to change the narrative between Mexico and the U.S. We are (each other’s) largest trading partner. The narrative cannot be only about migration. We have a dynamic common border that brings opportunities to all.”
She said the U.S. and Mexico can craft long-term solutions to the migration phenomenon by addressing the root causes of displacement in other countries. She said Mexico is willing to become a “destination” country for migrants from elsewhere who need jobs. Earlier on Monday, she visited a migrant services center in Juarez, Mexico, that shares employment opportunities in the city with migrants.
The foreign minister stressed her message of building friendship with American communities by honoring the victims of the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting in El Paso during a memorial late Wednesday at the Healing Garden in Ascarate Park.
Barcena’s visit comes in the wake of a March 21 incident in which migrants broke through the Texas Army National Guard’s concertina wire at the Rio Grande and overran a line of Guard members. A viral video showed the migrants pushing the Guard aside and Guard members subduing some participants in what the state is calling a “riot.”
The arrests on riot and criminal mischief charges have continued along the levee in El Paso, with 57 more migrants charged in the past two days in connection to an April 14 “riot.”
