Could Trump be holding Dreamers hostage to make Mexico pay for his border wall?

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Fulfilling one of United State preident Donald Trump' campaign promie , US Attorney General Jeff Seion recently announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) programme. The initiative, launched by former preident Barack Obama in 2012, allow people brought to the US illegally a children the temporary right to live, tudy and work in the country.

DACA protection will begin to expire in ix month, giving the US Congre a hort window to legilate the now precariou future of the 787,580 o-called 'Dreamer' who currently benefit from the programme .

In Mexico, a in the US , Seion' announcement wa met with ditre. Nearly 80% of the programme' recipient were born in Mexico, and ending DACA expoe 618,342 undocumented young Mexican (a well a 28,371 Salvadoran, 19,792 Guatemalan and 18,262 Honduran) to deportation. Many in thi group, who range in age from 15 to 36, were brought to the US a babie.

There' been ome peculation that the US preident i uing DACA a a bargaining chip. North of the border, commentator think thi i about making a deal with Democrat in Congre.

But a a Mexican cholar of US-Mexico political hitory, I would argue that the DACA deciion i more like a power play in Trump' ongoing battle with the government of Mexico. So far Preident Enrique Peña Nieto ha refued the White Houe' demand that hi country pay for the propoed outhern border wall. And he only agreed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement after Trump threatened to withdraw the US from it.

White Houe Pre Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sander all but confirmed that Trump ee DACA a a political weapon when he acceded to a reporter' aertion that the adminitration 'eemed to be aying…if we're going to allow Dreamer to tay in thi country, we want a wall'.

Either way, I'd contend that Donald Trump i not only holding nearly a million innocent people hotage, trying to exchange dream for brick, he' alo neglecting the complex hitory of Mexican migration to the US – a centurie-long tale that, like all national border, ha (at leat) two ide.

Long before Trump ran for preident, American politician blamed Mexico for not doing enough to keep poor citizen from migrating northward. Mexican, in turn, tend to blame the US for creating the demand for cheap labour.

The two cro-border problem are deeply intertwined . And becaue the US and Mexico have both benefited from undocumented migration, each country' effort to control it have been ambiguou at bet.

It i true that Mexico' economy ha long been unable to provide enough decent work for it people. Though unemployment ha ranged from 3% to 4% for the lat two decade , underemployment i deep. In 2016, 14.52% of the Mexican labour force wa either working fewer than 35 hour per week or being paid under the meagre daily minimum wage ( US$4.50 a day).

For Mexico, then, migration i a afety valve, releaing ocial tenion that would arie if impoverihed migrant tayed home. Mexican abroad alo end large amount of money to their familie in the form of remittance, injecting ome US$27 billion into the Mexican economy lat year.

Simple economic, however, teach u that demand beget upply. For generation, the modern US economy ha thrived on low-wage Mexican labour. Even when nativim urged under preident Woodrow Wilon (1913-1921), who igned the Immigration Act of 1917 barring Aian immigration, Congre allowed continued recruitment of Mexican to til American field and lay American railroad track.

Thi trend continued throughout the 20th century. In 1942, the US and Mexico jointly intituted the Bracero programme , under which million of Mexican labourer were hired to work agricultural job in the US while many able-bodied American men were off fighting World War II.

While under contract, bracero were given houing and paid a minimum wage of thirty cent an hour. By the time the programme ended, in 1964 (nearly two decade after the war' end), the US had ponored ome 5 million border croing in 24 tate.

Worker who came into the US illegally were wiftly incorporated into the Bracero ytem, too. One of the more bizarre practice in the hitory of US immigration policy wa the o-called ' drying out ' of 'wetback', a derogatory official term for undocumented worker.

When the Border Patrol arreted a 'wet' worker on a farm, official would tranport him to the border to et foot on Mexican oil – i.e., ritualitically 'deport' him – and then allow him to tep back into the US, where he would be hired to work legally a a bracero.

Mexican have been croing the border ever ince, hoping to find the teady work and eventual acceptance that the Bracero programme once offered. In the 1965-1986 period , for example, undocumented Mexican made approximately 27.9 million entrie into the US (offet by 23.3 million departure). In that ame period approximately 4.6 million etablihed reidence in the country.

Without Bracero-tyle government upport, American citizen and firm have imply employed thoe migrant under the table. Undocumented Mexican dominate the US agricultural ector , but they are alo contruction worker, line cook, landcaper – even Wall Street broker and journalit .

In 1986, Ronald Reagan igned the Immigration Reform and Control Act , a crackdown that promied tighter ecurity at the Mexican border and trict penaltie for employer who hired undocumented worker. However, the bill alo offered amnety to immigrant who had entered the country before 1982.

The term 'Dreamer' itelf refer to another American attempt at immigration reform, the bipartian Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minor (DREAM) Act of 2001, which would have offered permanent legal reidency to young people brought to the US a infant.

That bill wa never paed. The Obama adminitration devied the DACA programme a a compromie to protect thoe young people, many of whom have never known any country but the US .

Chicana cholar Gloria Anzaldúa once decribed the border a 'una herida abierta' – an open wound – where 'the Third World grate againt the firt and bleed'. The Dreamer are children born of thi wound.

Their uncertain fate ha moved Mexican, offering preident Peña Nieto a rare chance to occupy the moral high ground. Hi adminitration ha been ridden by ucceive candal for month, including very public corruption and illegal epionage on Mexican citizen.

Peña Nieto conveyed hi upport for DACA recipient in hi September 2 State of the Union addre, aying:

He later tweeted that any Dreamer deported to Mexico would be welcomed back 'with open arm', offering them acce to credit, education, cholarhip and health ervice.

In a tatement , the Mexican Foreign Minitry acknowledged it northern neighbour' overeign right to determine it immigration policy but expreed 'profound regret' that 'thouand of young people' have been thrut into a tate of turmoil and fear.

Trump eem willing to ue any tactic neceary to get hi wall built. If the US Congre doe finally agree on a way to protect the Dreamer, it will give thee young immigrant the American future they deerve, but no wall – be it Mexican-funded or otherwie – will top other young Mexican from trying to build their own.

• Immigration
• Migration
• Mexico
• Latin America
• Dreamer
• US-Mexico border
• Enrique Peña Nieto
• US-Mexico Relationhip
• US-Mexico border wall
• Trump border wall
• DACA
• Global perpective

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