Sunday February 12th was a national Anti-Trump Day in Mexico.

Well, actually every day is, but this one was special: there were anti-Trump marches throughout the country.

Just think about that a moment.  Thousands of people in one country are protesting the head of state in another country—for enforcing the laws of that country.

Of course, since it’s the immigration law of the U.S., that’s objectionable to Mexico.

So, there they were in Mexico, marching on the streets of 18 cities including the capital, Mexico City, where 20,000 marched against Trump. Another 10,000 marched in Guadalajara.

The marches, according to Mexico’s Excelsior, “inundated the streets….to demonstrate patriotic pride and to call for respect for the rights of the illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States, that Trump wants to deport.” [Al grito ‘¡Puentes, no muros!’, en 17 estados marchan contra Trump (Feb. 12, 2017)].

Gabriela Torres, one of the demonstrators, was quoted saying the goal was “to send a message to the President of the United States that we are angry, that we have been insulted, that he is abusive and shows no respect. “

There were signs reading Puentes, no muros [“Bridges not walls”], Los trabajadores mexicanos han ayudado a construir EU [“Mexican workers have helped to construct the United States”, and even “Make Mexico Great Again”.

There were protesters who identified Trump with Hitler—and even (you’ve not seen this in America) the Antichrist.

The march arrived to the Angel of Independence monument, where, accompanied by a band, demonstrators sang the Mexican national anthem.

Also at the monument was a wall built of cardboard boxes with words like racismo, homofobia, discriminación, miedo, intolerancia and exclusión written on them. Then, of course. the wall was symbolically disassembled.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQbFibTDDik/

The day before the marches in Mexico, a meeting was held in Phoenix AZ between a group of elite Mexicans, including longtime Open borders booster and former foreign minister Jorge Castaneda (right) and a group of illegal aliens.

Think about that for a moment: there they were, on U.S. soil, openly discussing their plan to sabotage the Trump administration’s attempt to enforce the law.

This was so blatant that even the Wall Street Journal noticed it. (Now, if only I could get the Trump administration to focus on Mexican meddling). Castaneda’s plan is to get so many illegal alien Mexicans in the immigration court system that the system would jam:

The proposal calls for ad campaigns advising migrants in the U.S. to take their cases to court and fight deportation if detained. “The backlog in the immigration system is tremendous,” said former Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda. The idea is to double or triple the backlog, “until [U.S. President Donald] Trump desists in this stupid idea,” he added. Mr. Castañeda is part of a group of Mexican officials, legislators, governors and public figures planning to meet with migrant groups Saturday in Phoenix to lay out plans to confront the Trump administration’s deportation policy.

Mexicans Vow to Fight Trump by Jamming U.S. Courts by Jose de Cordoba and Santiago Perez, Feb. 10, 2017

The illegal aliens liked it:

All but one of about 50 undocumented Mexican migrants at a meeting Saturday indicated they would rather risk detention and long court battles in the U.S. than return to Mexico voluntarily. The majority of migrants at the meeting in Phoenix, which included Mexican officials, signaled in a show of hands that they were ready to fight deportation in U.S. courts.

“Even if that means detention for weeks?” asked former foreign minister Jorge Castaneda. “Even if it takes months,” shouted one woman. “Even if it takes years,” another yelled. “We are here to fight.”

Mexican Migrants Signal They Prefer Detention to Deportation, by Jose de Cordoba, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 12, 2017

Let me reiterate: this meeting was held in public on U.S. soil—and there were no repercussions.  This is how Mexicans openly meddle without consequences. Does Donald Trump know about this?

By the way, there are simple solutions to this court congestion problem: Just expand Expedited Removal—or abolish the whole immigration court system, as proposed by VDARE.com’s Juan Mann in 2005.

Note that this Phoenix meeting was not officially sponsored by the Mexican government. But it didn’t have to be.  The Mexican government has a vast consular network of 50 consulates on U.S. soil. And as the Wall Street Journal’s de Cordoba went on to report:

Mexico’s government hasn’t endorsed the [Castaneda] strategy, but President Enrique Peña Nieto recently budgeted about $50 million to the country’s 50 consulates to help pay the costs of defending migrants who are in the U.S. illegally and facing deportation.

But note this: While the Mexico’s government and elite continue to meddle in American affairs, simultaneously, the government is preparing to receive deportees from north of the border.

Recently Mexican Presidente Pena Nieto went to Mexico City’s airport to welcome a group of 135 Mexican deportees who had been flown there from Los Angeles. [Recibe el Presidente Enrique Peña Nieto a mexicanos repatriados de los EUA (“Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto receives Mexicans repatriated from the U.S.A.”) Mexican Presidential Website Feb. 7, 2017.

Mexico’s Excelsior reported this as an unprecedented act—publicly welcoming Mexican deportees back to Mexico and pledging government support for their re-integration into the homeland

“You are not alone. Don’t feel abandoned. The doors of this, your home, will always be open,” Pena Nieto told the deportees. The deportees were provided by the Mexican government with a backpack, telephone card and a bus ticket so they could return home.  

A cynic might point out that President Pena Nieto had political motives to publicly welcome the deportees. But it’s also true that this public action (click here for an English-language story reporting it) reveals a deeper message about the situation in Mexico and how the Mexican government will responding to the new leadership in the White House.

At the airport deportee reception, the Mexican presidente appealed to the deportees, asking them to “Permit us, the government, to accompany you in this process of the return to your country.”

Pena Nieto assured them:

Mexico is a land of opportunities which have been created. Now there are more who are returning, either by this process of repatriation [deportation] or many by their own decision [self-deportation], than those who eventually decide to go to the United States. And the only reason for this occurring this way is that a space of personal fulfillment is being found here [in Mexico].

No están solos, dice Peña a deportados [“You are not alone, says Pena to deportees”] by Enrique Sanchez, Feb. 8, 2017

I hope the Mexican president is right about Mexico being “a land of opportunities” for the deportees.

But the psychobabble about “personal fulfillment” doesn’t tell the whole story.

The real reason that Pena Nieto was at the airport: pressure from Donald J. Trump. As I’ve previously reported, the Mexican government has been taking Trump seriously since before he’s taken office. It is preparing for deportees and self-deportees returning to Mexico, who may be the vanguard of many more.

It’s too early to tell, but what we may be seeing is a historic reversal of a mass movement of Mexicans into the U.S.

Note that this is not the result of a Mexican government policy, but of a U.S. policy change which is forcing Mexico to receive the deportees and even to put a happy face on it.

Economically, the effects are potentially enormous. Mexico has become addicted to remittances flowing into the country from Mexicans in the United States:

Between January and November of 2016, $24.6 billion flowed back to the pockets of Mexicans from friends and relatives living overseas, according to Mexico's central bank. That's even higher than what Mexico earns from its oil exports — $23.2 billion in 2015. And almost all of that cash comes from the U.S. Trump threatens Mexico's biggest cash source

By Patrick Gillespie, CNN, January 25, 2017

Politically, President Pena Nieto is in a tough spot.  Mexican presidents serve six-year terms and are not permitted reelection. The next presidential election is scheduled for the summer of 2018.  The campaign begins much sooner. Potential candidates are already being discussed in the media.

This means that Pena Nieto is essentially a lame duck—even apart from his historically low approval ratings.

Although Pena Nieto can’t run for reelection, he is still a member of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and his party still holds him to account. His poor approval ratings could hurt the party in the 2018 presidential and congressional elections.

It’s even possible that the winner of next year’s Presidential election will be Leftist populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known by his initials AMLO). All the Mexican hoopla and hysteria about Trump may well help an AMLO candidacy.

But, what’s wrong with that? Mexico can debate its future, just as we Americans ought to be able to freely debate ours.

And the fact that our immigration situation may be on the verge of change is driving Mexico to take a good look at its policies as well. Finally, the Mexican government is being compelled to take real responsibility for its own people, who may soon be returning in droves. And that’s thanks to Donald Trump.

No wonder the Mexican elite is taking The Donald seriously.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here ; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.