LAREDO, Texas – The William C. Velasquez Institute has started a campaign called Stop the Cold War Against Mexico and Mexicans.
The non-profit group says this is what President Trump is doing with his border wall executive order, talk of taxing Mexican imports to pay for the border wall and threats of doing away with the North American Free Trade Agreement.
NAFTA comprises the United States, Mexico and Canada and Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, says the contrast between what Trump is saying about Canada and Mexico makes the point for him.
President Trump hosted Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau in the White House on Monday. This is what they said:
“Canadians are rightly aware of the fact that much of our economy depends on good working relations with the United States and good integration with the American economy. We know that working together, by ensuring the continued effective integration of our two economies we are going to be creating greater opportunities for middle class Canadians and Americans now and well into the future,” Trudeau said.
Trump responded: “We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. We’ll be tweaking it. We’ll be doing certain things that are going to benefit both of our countries. It is a much less severe situation than what is taking place on the southern border. On the southern border, for many, many years the transaction was not fair to the United States. On the homefront we have to create borders. We have to let people that can love our country in and I want to do that. We want to have a big, beautiful open door and we want people to come in, to come in our country but we cannot let the wrong people in. And I will not allow that to happen during this administration.”
Trudeau then said: “There have been times when we have differed in our approaches. And that has always been done, fairly and respectfully. The last thing Canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves. My role and responsibility is to continue to govern in such a way that reflects Canadians’ approach and be a positive example.”
WCVI’s Gonzalez said the contrast between Trump’s approach to Mexico and Candada could not be sharper. He said the fact that the U.S. has a larger trade deficit with Mexico than it does Canada is no reason to be hostile to Mexico. Gonzalez said one of the goals of NAFTA was to help Mexico create a stronger economy and that it is in the United States’ best interests for that to happen.
Gonzalez said WCVI’s Stop the Cold War Against Mexico and Mexicans is in direct opposition to Trump’s policy changes for Mexico and the border region. He said the goal is to “mobilize Mexican-origin persons and their allies against President Trump’s recent orders and threats.”
“Taxes here, an announced 2,000 mile wall, canceling NAFTA, tax Mexican trade, defund sanctuary cities, dramatically increase deportations of unauthorized immigrants, and tax remittances to Mexico,” Gonzalez said. “We said, ‘you know, this is what you do when you are getting ready for a war,’ and when you’re getting ready for a war, usually you have a cold war before.”
Gonzalez said his group and others thought the rhetoric used by Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign would subside if he was elected president.
“We couldn’t believe it, even when Trump won, we actually thought that was just a campaign rhetoric, and I didn’t believe that,” he added. “There is absolutely no need for a border wall since migration across the southern border has been near net zero or net zero since 2007. The border is stable due to 20,000 border guards, drones and radar financed annually with a multi-billion-dollar budget.”
Stop the Cold War Against Mexico and Mexicans went live with a social media campaign that includes an online petition, website, and Facebook presence. The goal is to obtain signatures, volunteers, and donors who will communicate their opposition to policy makers across the country. Gonzalez said the signatures would be in opposition to “funding the border wall and draconian anti-immigrant measures ordered by Mr. Trump.”
The Stop the Cold War Against Mexico and Mexicans campaign platform considers:
● Stopping the Border Wall;
● Halting deportations of law abiding immigrants;
● Defending Sanctuary Cities;
● Opposing US trade sanctions against Mexico;
● Opposing taxes on US remittances to Mexicans;
● Protecting immigrant families with state legislation;
● Defending the federal DACA program.
Editor’s Note: Reporter Steve Taylor contributed to this story from McAllen, Texas.
