Mexico: No Texas Deportations ‘Under Any Circumstances’

(AP)

The Mexican government says it will not accept deportations from Texas “under any circumstances,” while condemning the state’s law that allows officials to arrest unauthorized immigrants coming across the southern border.

“Mexico reiterates its legitimate right to protect the rights of its nationals in the United States and to establish its own immigration policies into its territory,” the country said through its foreign ministry in a statement published Tuesday night, reports The New York Times.

It added that the country recognizes the importance of an immigration policy with another country so that migration is “safe, orderly, and with respect for their human rights and is not affected by legislative decisions” of state or local governments.

The statement came in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to allow Texas to arrest migrants who cross into the state without authorization.

Meanwhile, the Texas law is again on hold, at least temporarily, on Wednesday after a late-night order from a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel.

The Mexican foreign ministry also condemned the Texas law, Senate Bill 4, saying that it criminalizes migrants while promoting family separation and racial violence and creates “hostile environments” for more than 10 million people of Mexican origin who live in Texas.

Roberto Velasco Alvarez, the top Mexican diplomat for North America, echoed the government’s statement in an X post Tuesday, commenting that the dialogue about immigration must be negotiated between federal governments.

Mexico has been criticizing the Texas law since last year, rejecting the use of local or state laws to detain and deport migrants and asylum seekers.

A senior Mexican foreign ministry official, speaking anonymously to The Times, said the court’s ruling will not affect migration agreements in place between the United States and Mexico.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last week said that his administration is calling on President Joe Biden’s administration to allow legal status for at least 5 million undocumented Mexicans who live and work in the United States.

He also called for the United States to lift its blockade against Cuba and to suspend its sanctions on Venezuela, saying the measures will reduce the flow of migrants, and said calls to build border walls or close the border are “electoral propaganda.”