The United States has targeted Mexican transportation businessmen who facilitate illegal immigration into the country. The spokesperson for the United States in Mexico, David Arizmendi, on Wednesday indicted the directors and senior officials of this type of company. “We are going against you,” the spokesperson said in a video shared on the networks of the Washington embassy in Mexico. The representative’s statements come a week after the State Department revoked and sanctioned the visas of several entrepreneurs of this type of business, whose names were not specified, for the same allegations.
“US immigration and nationality law is clear and prohibits entry to those who affect the country’s foreign policy. (…) The United States will not tolerate actions that undermine national security or violate immigration laws,” Arizmendi stressed. The spokesperson begins the video with an expression of warning towards migrant smugglers to the United States: “Waters, polleros!“- continuing the actions taken last week by the State Department: “It has revoked visas and will apply restrictions to executives who provide services to support travel intended for illegal entry.”
The American immigration filter has become a resource of pressure for Mexico since the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Politicians, businessmen and artists have had their visas revoked for various reasons. Other names were added to the executives whose entry permits were withdrawn last week, such as the general director of customs investigations, Alex Tonatiuh, or the mayor of San Felipe (Baja California), José Luis Dagnino.
There were not many details in the case of the transport businessmen, but there was a description of how the alleged transfers of migrants to the country were carried out. “Investigations indicate that the aforementioned individuals arranged for the transportation of aliens, including minors, from the Caribbean and other areas to transit points in Central America, where many were later found attempting to enter the United States illegally,” the statement said.
A Reuters statement shared in October shows how at least 50 politicians in the country – the list was later expanded – were affected by this barrage of dismissals. Among them were the former governor of Guerrero Héctor Astudillo (2015-2021), the city councilor of Tijuana, Carlos Torres, or the mayor of Mexicali, Norma Alicia Bustamante. But the political class is not the only one affected. The controversy surrounding the lyrics of the corridos led several musicians to find a wall in the immigration filter: the members of Grupo Firme were placed in administrative procedure before one of their concerts in June and the visas of Los Alegres del Barranco or that of Julión Álvarez were revoked.
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