Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States, even though political pundits predicted that he would not even win the Republican presidential nomination. In the end, more 59 million Americans voted for him. On inauguration day in January, many of Trump\u27s voters will be looking forward - among other campaign promises - to the construction of a wall along the Mexican border. This means a physical barrier over 3,000 kilometres in length, on a border that one million people legally cross on a daily basis, producing half a trillion dollars in annual trade

Gomez Romero, Luis

English

Research Online

University of WollongongResearch OnlineFaculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts2016The wall and the beast: Trump's triumph from theMexican side of the borderLuis Gomez RomeroUniversity of Wollongong, lgromero@uow.edu.auResearch Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library:research-pubs@uow.edu.auPublication DetailsL. Gomez Romero, 'The wall and the beast: Trump's triumph from the Mexican side of the border' (2016) 10 November TheConversation 1-4.The wall and the beast: Trump's triumph from the Mexican side of theborderAbstractDonald Trump is the president-elect of the United States, even though political pundits predicted that hewould not even win the Republican presidential nomination. In the end, more 59 million Americans voted forhim. On inauguration day in January, many of Trump's voters will be looking forward - among other campaignpromises - to the construction of a wall along the Mexican border. This means a physical barrier over 3,000kilometres in length, on a border that one million people legally cross on a daily basis, producing half a trilliondollars in annual trade.DisciplinesArts and Humanities | LawPublication DetailsL. Gomez Romero, 'The wall and the beast: Trump's triumph from the Mexican side of the border' (2016) 10November The Conversation 1-4.This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/2882AuthorLuis Gómez RomeroSenior Lecturer in Human Rights,Constitutional Law and Legal Theory,University of WollongongAcademic rigour, journalistic flairDonald Trump is the president-elect of the United States, even though politicalpundits predicted that he would not even win the Republican presidential nomination. In the end, more 59 million Americans voted for him.On inauguration day in January, many of Trump’s voters will be looking forward –among other campaign promises – to the construction of a wall along the Mexicanborder.This means a physical barrier over 3,000 kilometres in length, on a border that onemillion people legally cross on a daily basis, producing half a trillion dollars inannual trade.The promised wallTrump compared his projected border barrier to the Great Wall of China. The wall, as Trump hasdreamt it, will be as high as 17 metres.It will have a “big, fat, beautiful door” that will only let legal migrants enter the US. The wall issupposed to keep Mexican and Latin American “bad hombres” – who Trump generally conceives asdrug traffickers, criminals and “rapists” – away from the US.Jose Luis Gonzalez/ReutersNovember 10, 2016 6.57pm AEDTThe wall and the beast: Trump’s triumph from the Mexican side of the ... https://theconversation.com/the-wall-and-the-beast-trumps-triumph-fr...1 of 4 21/03/2017 3:17 PMTrump has promised that Mexico will pay for the wall. When he has been asked about how he issupposed to make Mexico pay for it, he has threatened either war or cutting off the flow of billions of dollars in payments that Mexican migrants send to Mexico.The wall was central to Trump’s campaign. He now has to deliver on his promises – howeveroutrageous or irrational they may have been. The time for Mexico (and the rest of the world) has thuscome. The sheer fact of Trump’s victory sent the Mexican peso plummeting in global markets. Mexicois officially the first victim of the Trump effect.The wall that is already thereIronically, Trump’s wall is already there. Its foundation stone was laid as early as 1848. In 1845, theUS annexed Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory. Mexican claims over Texasprompted the US to invade Mexico in 1846. The military campaign was finalised by the Treaty ofGuadalupe Hidalgo, which established the US-Mexican border at the Río Bravo, and ceded more thanhalf of Mexican territory to the US. A marble monument built in Tijuana commemorates the dayMexico and the US agreed to the current border lines.The territorial spoils of the Mexican-American War allowed the US to emerge as a world power in thelate 19th century. The peace that followed the war, from a Mexican perspective, established a bitterpattern of political, economic and military inequality between the two countries. This asymmetricalrelationship has haunted Mexican-US relations ever since.Enter globalisation. Wall construction along the Mexican-American border began during formerpresident Bill Clinton’s administration, 21 years before Trump’s wall-building promise.The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 displaced hundreds of thousands of Mexicans as small business owners and farmers were crushed under thecorporate muscle of giants such as, for example, Walmart or Cargill. American officers foresaw thiscollateral effect of NAFTA, and rushed to harden immigration laws.In 1996, Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The actapproved the construction of a 22.5km fence near San Diego. Clinton thus replaced the barbed-wirefence at the border with an iron wall. The metal sheets that make up the fence were originally used bythe US military to land planes during the Gulf War.President George W Bush continued Clinton’s work. In 2006, the Secure Fence Act – signed on thewave of post 9/11 security panic – resulted in setting aside of several laws to build almost 1400km offencing in the border. Legal impediments on water and air pollution, endangered species and NativeAmerican heritage, among other matters, were waived to allow the construction of the wall.When the history of the physical barriers constructed along the Mexican-American border is read inthese terms, it is preposterous to pretend that the wall-building techniques used by the Chinese in theeighth century to control their borders will still be useful in the 21st century. Borders are meant to beThe wall and the beast: Trump’s triumph from the Mexican side of the ... https://theconversation.com/the-wall-and-the-beast-trumps-triumph-fr...2 of 4 21/03/2017 3:17 PMcrossed by people who do not necessarily have the resources to pay a visa. Nobody leaves hishomeland without a reason. If Mexicans and Latin Americans could find the same economicopportunities they search for in the US in their countries, they would probably not leave.Trump’s promised wall has hence only made evident the hypocrisy of the supposed defenders of LatinAmerican migrants in the US. Trump has explicitly said that the American Dream is not meant foreveryone.His predecessors – including Barack Obama, the American president who has deported the largestnumber of undocumented migrants (2.6 million) in American history – simply preferred aninconspicuous style of getting things done.Another brickIn 1848, article XI of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the US responsibility for controlling“hostile Indian incursions” in Mexico. Today, it is Mexico that watches over the border for the US,preventing Central and South American migrants from crossing it.On August 31 2016, Trump hastily visited Mexico and met with Mexican President Enrique PeñaNieto. The meeting was deemed a major political failure in Mexico. Mexicans felt betrayed becausePeña Nieto did not comment on Trump’s repeated insults against both Mexico and Mexican people.There was little reflection, however, on Peña Nieto’s claims about Central and South Americanmigrants. Peña Nieto referred to a “humanitarian crisis” caused by “an increasing number ofnon-Mexicans” crossing the Mexican-American border. He also advocated for a bilateral agenda on“national security”, aimed at controlling the flow of “undocumented people and illegal drugs andweapons”.There was not a single mention to the dangers that Central and South American migrants face inMexico as they ride “The Beast” – that is, the Mexican network of freight trains.Central and South American migrants “ride The Beast” atop the moving trains because there are nopassenger railcars. They face obvious physical dangers that range from amputation to death, if theyfall or are pushed. Beyond the dangers of the trains themselves, migrants are subject to extortion andviolence at the hands of the gangs criminal groups that control the routes into the US.The wall and the beast: Trump’s triumph from the Mexican side of the ... https://theconversation.com/the-wall-and-the-beast-trumps-triumph-fr...3 of 4 21/03/2017 3:17 PMMexico Donald Trump 2016 US Presidential Election US-Mexico border Peace and SecurityAfter visiting Mexico, Trump ridiculed Peña Nieto in his infamous Phoenix speech on immigration policy. He smugly used the Mexican president to boost his campaign. His major triumph, however,was the adoption of his views on immigration by the Mexican government.On Trump’s side, there was an unsurprising lack of empathy. On the Mexican side, however, therewas a shameful lack of courage in acknowledging the role that Mexico plays in enforcing onnon-Mexican migrants the harsh immigration policies that Mexicans loathe and fear from the US. Allin all, as Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli has suggested, the Mexican government became that day justanother brick in Trump’s wall.Taming the beastOn 15 August 2016 – just a few days before Trump’s visit – article 11 of the Mexican Constitution wasamended to grant refugees the right to both seek and be granted asylum in Mexico.In similar terms, the draft Constitution of Mexico City defines Mexico’s capital as refuge and destination of migrations and exiles. A sensible response to Trump’s international bullying demandsMexico to take these principles and ideals seriously.If Mexico wants to escape Trump’s asphyxiating grasp, it needs to tame “The Beast” by protecting thenon-Mexican migrants who cross into its own territory and treating them with the dignity theydeserve. For Mexico, the only way to overcome Trump is by showing him that he may have the powerand the money to build a huge wall, but he has neither justice nor reason on his side.Help combat alt-facts and fake news and donate to independent journalism. Tax deductible.Make a donationMigrants in Central America take on ‘The Beast’. ReutersThe wall and the beast: Trump’s triumph from the Mexican side of the ... https://theconversation.com/the-wall-and-the-beast-trumps-triumph-fr...4 of 4 21/03/2017 3:17 PM

The wall and the beast: Trump\u27s triumph from the Mexican side of the border

https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3893&context=lhapapers

The wall and the beast: Trump\u27s triumph from the Mexican side of the border

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Research Online