Migrants face public backlash in Mexico, poll finds

Mexicans are deeply frustrated with immigrants after a year of heightened migration from Central America through the country, according to a survey conducted by the Washington Post and Mexico’s Reforma newspaper.

More than 6 in 10 Mexicans say migrants are a burden to the country because they take jobs and benefits that should belong to Mexicans. A 55 percent majority supports deporting migrants who travel through Mexico to reach the United States.

Those findings defy the perception that Mexico — a country that has sent millions of its own migrants to the U.S., sending billions of dollars in remittances — is sympathetic to the surge of Central Americans. Instead, the data suggests Mexicans have turned against the migrants transiting through their own country, expressing antipathy that would be familiar to many supporters of President Donald Trump north of the border.

The face-to-face survey among 1,200 Mexican adults was conducted after a sharp increase in immigration enforcement by Mexico following a June agreement with the Trump administration. Trump promised that deal would reduce the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. He threatened to impose major tariffs on Mexico unless it complied.

For a year, Mexicans watched as a growing number of Central Americans moved through the country on their way to the U.S. border. Some of those migrants traveled by foot and bus in large caravans, sleeping in small-town plazas and relying on donations of food and clothes. Once they reached Mexico’s northern border, the migrants waited months for the United States to process their asylum claims, often overwhelming local shelters.

While migration from Central America through Mexico has existed for years, the overall increase in migrants as well as their more visible modes of transit turned the phenomenon into a public lightning rod. The Trump administration’s immigration policy, which forces many asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings, increased the pool of migrants in northern Mexico and exacerbated the frustration felt by many Mexicans.

The Post-Reforma survey finds 7 percent of Mexicans say their country should offer residency to Central American immigrants traveling through Mexico and trying to enter the U.S. Another 33 percent support allowing them to stay while the U.S. decides whether to admit them.

When Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to step up Mexico’s immigration enforcement to avert U.S. tariffs, many analysts expected his base to be disillusioned. López Obrador had long advocated for migrants’ rights and the freedom of movement for asylum-seekers.

But 51 percent of Mexicans support using the country’s newly formed national guard to combat migration of undocumented immigrants in Mexico, a key provision of the agreement.