How Does Anti-Immigrant Policy Look Like at the CaliBaja Border?

Editor’s Note: Occasionally, The Latino Newsletter will publish media releases about topics we find interesting and newsworthy. This past week, CETYS University shared an update about a recent webinar it hosted. We are posting the complete release here.

MEXICALI, BC, MEXICO — Almost two months into the Donald Trump administration in the United States, there has not been a mass deportation affecting the Mexican border region. The shelters created in anticipation by the Mexican government and civil society are still not at full capacity.

However, the discourse and narrative that criminalizes migrants in the United States have radically hardened, said Dr. Hugo Méndez Fierros, professor and researcher at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), during the “Migration in the Cali Baja area: Perspectives from the border” webinar, organized by CETYS University.

The specialist pointed out that at this time, we are experiencing the greatest radicalization of a movement that tends to “enemyize” migrants, a phenomenon that some analysts also call “crimmigration.”

“The stigmatization of migrants is at its highest point since the formation of this discourse in the 1980’s. Today, it has become common to call them criminals or parasites or equate them with organized crime. The impact so far is media-based, but it has had an effect: border shelters are seeing the arrival of Mexicans who are repatriating voluntarily, for fear of being imprisoned,” Méndez Fierros said.

In the United States, changes in daily life have begun to be noticed, as described by Dr. Carlos González Palacios, Director of Humanities at the Center of Excellence in Human and Social Development at CETYS University (CEDHUS). Some of these changes include fear even when staying at home, absenteeism from work, and family stress in case one of its members does not return home.

There is also a struggle between the U.S. government and the so-called “sanctuary cities” with actions like withdrawal of support, closure of shelters, and lawsuits.

Dr. González Palacios added that, according to estimates, the economic impact of the measures against migrants would affect remittances to Mexico, agricultural production, and the construction industry in the United States, where undocumented labor can reach up to 70%.

For Dr. Frida Güiza, professor and researcher at CETYS University Tijuana Campus, communication from the U.S. government is having its own outcomes: the number of people arriving in the region has dropped substantially, while Mexico City, the country's capital, seems to have established itself as the new frontier. 

However, this doesn’t mean that the reasons why migrants left their place of origin have been resolved. In fact, the influx and displacement of Mexicans have increased due to the disasters and violence in various parts of Mexico. “The UN reports some 400,000 internally displaced people in the country. This is not solved, and there is no longer any possibility of escape to the United States,” said Dr. Güiza, a specialist in vulnerable women and children.

Meanwhile, in border cities, a mix of factors prevails behind the flow of people: forced internal displacement in Mexico, the population from various countries, and those arriving through deportations. It is a complex problem for the Mexican government and civil society, said Dr. Miguel Ángel Monteverde, professor and researcher at the College of Sciences and Humanities at CETYS University Mexicali Campus.

He considered that people who are stranded at the border are trapped in a “limbo” that affects not only the individual but also their entire support network or dependents.

“Tools of certainty for life are lost, and intense anxiety about the future is taking place. It is a huge physical and emotional exhaustion from waiting. In response to this, the Mexican government at all levels can make an important effort to incorporate those who arrive after having cut all ties with the US, providing documents to those deported, and treating this population with a Human Rights angle,” he said.

Looking ahead, panelists recommended paying attention to civil society's resistance mechanisms in the United States and to the philanthropic work being organized on the Mexican side of the border.

“Human immigration has always been present. No policy is going to stop it. Governments and societies have to find a way to manage it in a humane way,” Dr. González Palacios concluded.

About the Author

Founded in 1961, CETYS University has campuses in Mexicali, Tijuana, and Ensenada. It is strategically located on the border with California, one of the strongest economies in the United States. We educate individuals with the intellectual and moral capacity to become agents of change, positively impacting economic, social, and cultural development.

Now at 66% of Our 2025 Goal

Thanks to our 150th supporter, we are now at $13,158 in donations, 66% of our 2025 fundraising goal. If we receive another $1,500 by the end of February, The Latino Newsletter can continue until the end of March. If we hit our $20,000 goal, we have a runway for all of 2025.

We want to keep The Latino Newsletter accessible without paywalls. To help, you can donate here. Any amount (one-time or monthly) will keep us going.

What We’re Reading

People of Color: For POLITICO Magazine, UCal Berkeley professor Ezell argues why the term “people of color” is problematic.

Do you believe in creating new journalism lanes for Latinos and Latinas? Do you believe that U.S. mainstream outlets will never understand our community? Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any little bit helps to keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!