A recent New York Times op-ed is getting lots of attention for suggesting Mexico will give up its rightful claim to Texas and the entire southwestern U.S. if President Donald Trump offers amnesty to millions of Mexicans living in the U.S.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, says while most Americans will likely laugh at the op-ed piece, it does offer insight into what Mexico's elite are thinking.
“Mexico's ruling classes don't really view the American border as a legitimate thing,” says Krikorian. “And they do not see the United States as having a right to decide who comes into the United States at least with regard to people from Mexico.”
Jose Angel Hernandez, a history professor at the University of Houston, calls the piece another move in a much larger chess match being played between Mexico and U.S.
However, he says the writer neglects to mention thousands of native Americans already living here when Spanish soldiers came through.
“The claim that the U.S. somehow stole the lands, presupposes that those lands were in fact Mexico's to begin with,” says Hernandez. “When in fact, only around one percent of Mexico's total population resided in the territories that eventually became part of the U.S.”
Hernandez says only recently has the Mexican government even recognized its citizens living the U.S.
“This op-ed is just another index of the kind of attention the Mexican government has finally paid attention to these people that are in many cases bringing in remittances to the tune of $25-27 billion a year.”
Krikorkian says the Trump adminstration is not doing itself any favorites with its ongoing rhetoric toward Mexico.
“I really don't think its helpful for the president to constantly needle Mexico, our border is our problem to fix,” he says. “We want Mexico to be prosperous because we want the illegal immigrants from Central America to stay in Mexico and not keep going.”