Mexico Says It Will Not Accept Deportees If Texas Law Goes Into Effect Allowing State Officials To Expel Illegal Border Crossers

In a conversation with Mexico’s Milenio magazine, the Mexican foreign affairs secretary, Alicia Bárcena, elaborated on President Lopez Obrador’s remarks, saying that Mexico would not accept any migrants deported under the Texas law, including Mexican citizens.

AP/Andrew Harnik
President Biden and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the National Palace at Mexico City, January 9, 2023. AP/Andrew Harnik

The Mexican government says that it will not accept migrants who are deported by Texas if the state’s embattled immigration bill, SB4, is allowed to take effect.

At a press conference Wednesday, the Mexican president, Lopez Obrador, said that “we will not accept deportations from the Texan government.”

In a conversation with Mexico’s Milenio magazine, the Mexican foreign affairs secretary, Alicia Bárcena, elaborated on Mr. Obrador’s remarks, saying that Mexico would not accept any migrants deported under the Texas law, including Mexican citizens.

The law in question, which is currently blocked from going into effect by a federal appeals court, is the subject of a suit brought by the federal government, which argues that Texas is attempting to unconstitutionally usurp the power of the federal government to set immigration policy.

Ms. Bárcena said the Mexican government would be filing an amicus brief with the appeals court hearing the case, “so that the voice of the Mexican people” would be heard in the case. “Our migrants in the United States are not criminals, their contribution of around $324 billion to the US GDP is fundamental,” she said.

The law would allow state law enforcement to arrest people that they suspect may have entered the country between ports of entry and would also criminalize crossing the border, making it a Class B misdemeanor in the state.

The law would also empower the state government to deport migrants who are found to have crossed between ports of entry under state law.

At the press conference Wednesday, the Mexican president called the law draconian and dehumanizing, saying that they would respond if the law was allowed to take effect.

“We oppose this draconian law, it is completely contrary to human rights, completely dehumanizing, anti-Christian, unjust, it violates the norms of human coexistence (and) not only international law, but even violates the Bible,” Mr. Obrador said.


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