Mexico’s president eyes boost to border economy
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — The minimum wage for Mexican border residents will double and gasoline prices will be set on a par with those in the U.S. as part of an ambitious plan by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to stimulate the economy, make the region more competitive and stop his countrymen from heading north.
The moves come in a region facing the worst drug violence in years and a looming humanitarian crisis set off by the rising number of Central American migrants in this city and elsewhere along the border with the United States. Many are there awaiting the opportunity to request asylum in the U.S. but have been deterred by the immigration policies of President Donald Trump.
‘National development plan’
López Obrador and his team say they see the border as a place of opportunity, to build so-called economic curtains, or nets, not walls.
“The free zone on the border is part of a national development plan,” López Obrador said Saturday in a speech in Ciudad Juárez. “The central idea is to create nets for economic development from south to north so that Mexicans won’t have to emigrate anymore, so that they can be happy where they were born, where their families live, to enjoy their culture and customs.”
His words generated big applause from the crowd, even though immigration from Mexico is at historic lows, down from 1.6 million overall apprehensions in 2000 to fewer than 400,000 last year. Mexicans accounted for the majority of the apprehensions.
Chihuahua state’s governor, Javier Corral Jurado, and some foreign investors cautiously applauded the announcement but said they want to see details. Corral said he wants a long-term commitment, not just a presidential decree.
López Obrador responded that his commitment is for the six years of his presidential term and that the plan could be “perfected” along the way.
Under the plan, Mexico is to cut income and corporate taxes to 20 percent from 30 percent in 43 municipalities in the six Mexico states along the 2,000-mile border with the U.S. Half of that border is along the Rio Grande and Texas.
Mexico, López Obrador said, will also slash to 8 percent the value-added tax in the region and double the minimum wage for border residents to 176.2 pesos a day, the equivalent of $9.06.
Low Mexican salaries is one area, López Obrador said, where he agrees with Trump. “I agreed with him then and I still agree now” that wages must continue to rise to be more competitive with the U.S., he said.
Economy Minister Graciela Márquez Colin said the goal is to stimulate wage and job growth via fiscal incentives and productivity gains.
“We want to attract more companies, create more jobs,” she said. “For those looking for the American dream, we want them to find it here on the border.”
While López Obrador didn’t address Mexico’s security challenges, Silva said the plan is part of a long-term component “to generate enough good-paying jobs” for young Mexicans to counter the temptations of organized crime.
Crime and jobs
2018 ended with the highest homicide rates in Juárez since 2008-11, according to Molly Molloy, a librarian at New Mexico State University who keeps a daily tally. She said there had been 1,247 homicides, up from 772, based on accounts in the Diario de Juárez newspaper.
Homicides in all of Mexico are expected to surpass 33,000 for 2018 once the final tally is in.
The issues on the minds of many border residents Saturday went beyond crime and jobs. Many, like Hugo Gaytan, 26, dread the winter weather and the rising number of Central Americans flocking to the border in hopes of crossing into the U.S. to apply for asylum.
Even without López Obrador’s decree, Juarez already faces a labor shortage.
“If you want to work, you’ll find jobs in Juarez,” said Gaytan, who stood outside the hall, waiting to wave at López Obrador. “We’re a city of immigrants, and we welcome our brothers and sisters from Central America.”
Many Central Americans, however, have said they have no intention of staying in Mexico to work, even though the Trump administration plans to require Central Americans to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases crawl through U.S. courts. That policy faces legal challenges, and questions about Mexico’s willingness to enforce a measure the López Obrador team, by all accounts, has seemed reluctant to embrace from day one.
Mexican border cities such as Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa and Tijuana may turn into giant waiting areas, something viewed with growing concern at migrant shelters on both sides of the border.
Ruben Garcia, director of the Annunciation House, which provides shelter for immigrants in El Paso, called the border situation a “humanitarian crisis” in the making that could force the creation of tent cities in Juarez.