Tom Tancredo writes: “Mexico First” has been the open, avowed policy of the government of Mexico for a generation, and Mexico expects its former residents to be loyal to Mexico for the next 200 years.
Yet, when Donald Trump calls for an “America First” foreign policy, as he did in a speech this past week, he is denounced by pundits and the national security establishment for “nativism” and “demagoguery,” as if that policy is a novel and radical idea.
Well, not in Mexico.
I know that for a fact because I had it explained to me in Mexico City back in 2001 by a Mexican cabinet official. His name was Juan Hernandez and you may have seen him on television in 2008 when he was candidate Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign liaison with Mexican-American voters. You see, Juan Hernandez is a dual citizen with dual loyalties, just like many of the 30-50 million Mexican Americans in the United States.
In my conversation with Hernandez in Mexico’s capital city, he explained quite eagerly and candidly the reasons for the Mexican government’s active encouragement of Mexicans to “go north” — legally and illegally. Senor Hernandez was the head of a department in the Mexican government called the Office of Mexicans Living Outside Mexico– an entire government agency devoted to communicating with and assisting Mexicans living in the United States.
Hernandez bragged about the many programs for encouraging and helping Mexicans to move north, programs that provided “survival kits” and maps for the journey, helpful hints on how to deal with the U.S. Border Patrol, and how to deal with American officials if apprehended on the border. He was not apologetic or shy about these “educational services,” and answered my questions freely.
Being surprised by the brazenness of this government official, I asked Hernandez, “Aren’t you a little bit ashamed or embarrassed to admit that your government is actively encouraging and helping people to cross the United States border illegally? He laughed. I remember his words clearly: “Congressman, really! The southwest is not two countries, it’s a region.”
Why does Mexico devote so much effort to promoting and helping millions of its citizens leave Mexico and start a new life in “el Norte”? Does the fact that the millions of Mexicans living in the U.S. send $25 billion dollars in cash remittances annually back to relatives in Mexico have anything to do with it– cash that provides 30 percent of Mexico’s foreign investment, rivaling tourism in importance to the Mexican economy?
Mexico sees Mexicans in the United States as strategic assets in every sense of that word. They are seen as extensions of the Mexican state and partners in Mexico’s plans…
