Central American migrants walk along a highway in Mexico near the border with Guatemala on their way to the U.S. on Oct. 21. Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters The Mexican bishops’ conference has expressed its concern about the immigration and tariffs agreement reached between the governments of the US and Mexico.
Mexico has agreed to take measures to reduce the number of migrants to the US, in order to avoid tariffs being imposed.
Some 6,000 National Guard troops will be assigned to Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, and some asylum seekers in the US will be sent to Mexico to wait while their claims are processed.
Convictions
The Mexican bishops’ conference last week expressed “its concern for the lack of a truly humanitarian reception for our migrant brothers which reflects our convictions regarding the equal recognition and protection of the rights of all human beings”.
“Deploying 6,000 National Guard troops on the southern border is not a fundamental solution that addresses the true causes of the migration phenomenon. The fight against poverty and inequality in Mexico and Central America seems to be replaced by fear of the other, our brother,” the bishops said.
“If we as Mexicans have rejected the construction of a wall, we ourselves can’t become that wall,” they added.
For the bishops’ conference “it is completely legitimate and necessary to make courageous decisions to avoid the imposition of tariffs on Mexican products traded with the US”. Nevertheless, the bishops said, “our migrant brothers must never be a bargaining chip”.