Statement of solidarity with Central American refugees

Mexicans in the US stand in solidarity with Centro Americans and against all borders in Latin America

A statement from puntorojo, authored by Lupita Romero and co-signed by a network of activists, educators, artists and others throughout the country.

Last week, the Mexican military, acting as border enforcement, attacked hundreds of unarmed migrant civilians, most of whom are Central American, with tear gas, killing at least one person and arresting more than 800 asylum seekers, more than 350 of whom were deported this tuesday.

As MeXicanos, born in or with roots in Mexico, living in the U.S. we strongly denounce the United States and Mexican government’s use of military violence against innocent migrants. Moreover, we oppose the United States efforts to enforce and militarize Mexico’s southern border and those of Central America, including Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, going against a policy of free movement that previously existed between these countries.

In the last decade we have seen Trump’s explicitly xenophobic expansion of the deportation machine that Obama built through the Department of Homeland Security. In that time, the United States, has also trained and implemented this inhumane border enforcement throughout Latin America. This enforcement is presented as necessary to the safety of the North and Central American region. In reality, continued intervention from the United States throughout Latin American has only heightened levels of corruption, violence and repression.

Centuries long imperialism from the US has undermined the sovereignty of all of Latin America; our governments, economies and social movements for progress. It is carried out through border enforcement as well as the continued War on Drugs, free-trade agreements, and the privatization and exploitation of natural resources from water to oil. U.S. policies are the direct cause of the violence people are escaping when they make their way to the United States.

We call on all Mexicanos in the United States and in Mexico reject nationalism and anti-central american xenophobia and stand in solidarity with Centro Americanos who face violence and discrimination in Mexico, lest we forget our own history of facing displacement and racism. We must support and engage with independent and immigrant led grassroots organizations.

We call on Mexico’s president Manuel Lopez Obrador keep past promises of employment, refuge and safety from deportation to asylum seekers, to demilitarize the border region, revoke Plan Frontera Sur and all border enforcement agreements signed with the Trump administration.

We call on the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to take a stand against expanding enforcement in the region, investigate and work to revoke the border enforcement agreements signed by the Trump administration with Mexico’s Southern border and Centro America.

We call on all presidential candidates to take a stand and a humanitarian approach to this issue during the elections and chart a way forward in ending all imperialist policies fueling ongoing violence and forced migration.

Signed,

MeXicanos living in the United States,

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