While the liberal media remains obsessed over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a report on Telemundo raises another kind of red flag: the prospect that Mexican government officials and liberal activists in the United States are working together in their opposition to Trump administration immigration policies.
In a report on a January 26, 2018 meeting between Mexican executive and legislative branch officials with liberal Latino activists in Los Angeles, Telemundo correspondent Claudia Mendoza summarized the determination of both the Mexican government and activists to resist U.S. immigration law enforcement actions, both in the courts as well as at the polls.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: The Mexican government is also joining these legal efforts.
ARDELIO VARGAS, COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MIGRATION OF MEXICO: The consulates also have a defense strategy, they even have resources destined to, to, this effect.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA: Activists insist that one of the most powerful weapons is the vote, so they will join forces at the polls before November midterm elections to obtain greater representation and with that, block anti-immigrant measures.
The effort is coordinated by the Mexico-based organization Migrant Agenda (Agenda Migrante), led by former Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Castañeda and former Director of the Office of Mexicans Abroad Eunice Rendón.
It comes as little surprise that among Migrant Agenda’s most effusive supporters are Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo and Phoenix, Arizona Democrat Mayor Greg Stanton. What is perhaps more of a surprise, however, is that the organization also boasts Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake among its supporters.
Not all the discussion at the meeting was anti-Trump. In his concluding remarks at the event, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda spoke of the “attractive elements” of President Trump’s offer to put what he estimated are 1.5 million DACA-elegible Mexicans on a path to U.S. citizenship, an offer which he predicted it will be “very difficult” for Democrats to reject. “They are going to accept it,” Castañeda said.
Telemundo was the only major U.S. television network, in any language, to cover the meeting.
Below is a complete transcript of the above-referenced report, which aired during the January 26, 2018 edition of Noticias Telemundo.
JULIO VAQUEIRO, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: ... And all of this takes place at the same time as President Trump's immigration plan is made known. We have already discussed this here. Now pro-immigrant groups prepare a defense plan to protect those who seem to be more vulnerable than ever. Claudia Mendoza spoke with activists and politicians.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Magdalena is concerned that the new pillars of immigration, released by the White House on Thursday, do not protect her and leave her in a limbo since they only offer protection to the dreamers, but harden other aspects of the immigration laws.
MAGDALENA CHAMETLA, CONFERENCE ATENDEE: We are a little afraid because we don't know what awaits us, or our families.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA: And the panorama for undocumented immigrants looks bleaker every day, and is one that today led community and political leaders from both California and Mexico to consider defense strategies for them.
SERGIO INFANZÓN, COMMUNITY LEADER: And we can make proposals together, we can go to Washington together, we can send emails to all legislators together.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA: And while they press for a change in the federal capital, they also seek to secure funds to provide legal counsel for detainees and help them with their immigration process.
EUNICE RENDÓN, AGENDA MIGRANTE: We have seen a 45%, a 43% increase in arrests of illegal immigrants, and the number of people arrested without any criminal record has tripled.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: The Mexican government is also joining these legal efforts.
ARDELIO VARGAS, COMMISSIONER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MIGRATION OF MEXICO: The consulates also have a defense strategy, they even have resources destined to, to, this effect.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA: Activists insist that one of the most powerful weapons is the vote, so they will join forces at the polls before the November midterm elections to obtain greater representation and with that, block anti-immigrant measures.
SERGIO INFANZÓN: And that somehow what is happening now is balanced and neutralized. The community really has the strength.
CLAUDIA MENDOZA: But some immigrants fear that for them, a reform or relief that allows them to remain in the country without fear of deportation, will arrive too late. From Los Angeles, Claudia Mendoza, Telemundo News.
