A Growing Intolerance Toward Foreigners in Mexico

Here’s a sobering finding by a Mexican agency that deals with discrimination:

“‘The prevailing image of Mexico as supportive and open towards foreigners is debatable,’ notes the study for reflection on intolerance in contemporary Mexico, submitted by the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED).”

We’ve got to be upfront about this; Mexico has a bad record of dealing with undocumented immigrants. The findings of the Conapred study were published in Milenio.com and they carry a strong indictment against the treatment of Central American travelers in Mexico.

“The national survey on discrimination found that 42.1 percent of Mexicans would not be willing to live under the same roof as a stranger and 45 percent of refugees in Mexico reported employment discrimination.”

Mexico’s attitude toward it’s undocumented is hypocritical in the face of the Mexican government’s calls for justice, human rights and immigration reform for undocumented Mexicans living in the US. This type of attitude makes it hard for immigration advocates to defend undocumented workers on US soil.

The most damaging finding? Images of Arizona’s SB1070.

“40.1 percent of Mexicans would agree to allow police to question the presumption that Central Americans are illegally in the country, the figure for the same question in the United States was 62 percent.
‘Meanwhile, 40.8 percent of Mexicans would agree that the police may arrest any Central American who can not prove their legal stay in Mexico,’ according to the report delivered to the United Nations Organization (UNO).
‘Similarly, 58.3 percent of Mexicans would agree to American demands to show a document to prove their legal status in Mexico.'”

The question is not whether Mexico is wrong in its attitudes towards Central American immigrants, but rather what immigration advocates on both sides of the border will do about it.