The Mexican government is doing more to combat illegal immigration into the United States than the the entire Democratic Party put together. While the Democrats continue to pretend the crisis on our southern border is imaginary, Mexico is heavily investing in border security in anticipation of yet another massive caravan of migrants heading for the United States.
Hundreds of Honduran migrants began their journey in hopes of seeking asylum at our southern border, a goal that proved elusive to the previous caravan. Instead of dismissing the new caravan as a “manufactured crisis” as the Democrats did after President Trump made his appeal for border security from the Oval Office, Mexican authorities sprang into action, announcing a list of strengthened requirements to address the problem.
According to the latest reports, the Mexican government is reinforcing all the entry points along its own southern border with additional immigration enforcement agents, and is stepping up surveillance of known illegal crossing points. It also plans to enforce strict immigration protocols, such as requiring the migrants to undergo biometric scans and acquire immigration documents before they can enter the country.
Significantly, migrants who plan to traverse Mexico on their way to the United States will be required to provide an American visa, which will assist federal authorities. Most importantly, the Mexican government will deny passage and deport anyone who fails to comply with these strict conditions. While the decision to reinforce its own border clearly involves internal security concerns, Mexico has also been conscious of how its own policies impact the illegal immigration crisis in the United States.
In an effort to support our American enforcement efforts, the Mexican government took pivotal steps to stop the previous caravan, offering migrants access to various social programs and benefits if they chose to live and work in Mexico rather than continue on to the United States. Mexico even gave migrants an opportunity to apply for temporary work permits and obtain health benefits if they remained in its southern states.
“This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and it is a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico,” former President Peña Nieto warned at the time. By discouraging the caravan from traveling to the United States, Mexico demonstrated its willingness to assist federal authorities and establish a working partnership with President Trump despite past disagreements.
Sadly, the same cannot be said about the Democrats, who continue to do everything in their power to obstruct the White House agenda and still refuse to allocate adequate funds for a border wall to help end our illegal immigration crisis. As a consequence of this diehard partisanship, we just experienced the longest government shutdown in our history, during which many Democrats refused to even meet with President Trump.
Despite the efforts President Trump has made to compromise with the Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer refuse to hold productive negotiations, arguing instead that there is no illegal immigration crisis to begin with. But to their dismay, Democrats are breaking ranks to come to the table on border security. Will enough lawmakers compromise to solve this issue and get the job done?
When it comes to border security, Mexico is putting the Democrats to shame with tough immigration policies that will do more to protect our southern border than anything the Democrats have ever been willing to support since President Trump was elected. If the Democrats took our security as seriously as Mexico has, there would be no such crisis at all.
Madison Gesiotto is an attorney and commentator who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. She was an inauguration spokesperson and former Miss Ohio. She is on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.
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