Tension between the Mexican and U.S. government are bound to increase and it will be just a matter of time for when the tug of war bursts dividing the two nations.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE) is currently preparing a Trump Wall-countervailing executive order to be signed soon by President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Information leaked by the SRE to muckraking weekly magazine Proceso outlines the measures taken by the future “presidential decree” (the name used in Mexico for an executive order) in which the salient feature is that it prohibits all Mexicans from participating in any manner in the the construction of the wall.
The decree in its present form makes it illegal to participate in the direct or indirect financing of the wall and bans the U.S. government from attempting “any act of pressure or coercion” in Trump’s repeated statements that Mexico “will pay one way or the other for the wall.”
At least in its rough draft form the presidential decree sounds threatening, as any breach of it will force the SRE to exchange the necessary notes to denounce the diplomatic trespassing and going as far as cancelling “all bilateral cooperation agreements on legal matters, migration, security and international drug trafficking.”
The draft falls short of breaking diplomatic relations as a whole, a point of rupture that up until now has not been considered by President Trump in his plans to build the wall as it is only to stop undocumented migration into the United States from Mexico and not along the legal open points of entry and exit.
The rough draft is currently being written by professional personnel of the Mexican diplomatic service and the goal for now is to send the rough draft to President Enrique Peña Nieto for reviewing and amendments.
According to the document, the wall is a totally unacceptable construction even if built strictly on the U.S. side of the border and will not be subject to any type of bilateral negotiation with the United States.
The bill threatens all Mexican citizens as well as companies with “sanctions” should they participate “directly or indirectly” in collaboration with the U.S. government in the construction. This includes the sale of materials or services.
The presidential decree, whose draft is totally approved by SRE head Luis Videgaray, is – according to Proceso magazine – a reaction to the “climate of terror” created by the initiation of “mass deportations” apparently already underway.
The presidential decree will include a second clause taking measures to protect Mexicans in the United States from the memorandum signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on February 20 authorizing the mass deportations.
Last week Secretary Kelly was in Mexico to deny that memorandum and assured, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, that there would be no such a thing as mass deportations, both in direct contradictions with what has been repeatedly assured by President Trump.
The Kelly memo also says that all foreigners who may have crossed into the United States from Mexico will be returned to Mexico pending their cases.
The rough draft reads “Mexican immigration authorities will not allow the admittance of entry into Mexican territory of any foreigner subject to deportation procedure in the United States.”
Furthermore, in order for Mexico to accept deportees, U.S. Immigration and Customs authorities must prove that the deported subject is Mexican.
Keep in mind that the Trump Administration has set March 10 to begin receiving construction proposals for the wall hence the hurry of the SRE to come up with a détente for all Mexican companies who currently enjoy official permits to sign contracts with the U.S. government for different types of work. Any participation in the wall will automatically cancel those permits.
The presidential decree is being penned hastily as “urgent” and it includes visual supervision in its construction by the Armed Forces from the Mexican side of the border.
Now the question is, how long will it be before push comes to shove?
