Editor’s Note: Alice Driver is a freelance journalist and translator whose work focuses on migration, human rights and gender equality. She is based in Mexico City. Driver is the author of “More or Less Dead: Feminicide, Haunting, and the Ethics of Representation in Mexico.” In this piece, Driver is using first names only, so as not to compromise any future asylum cases. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN.
Last week, at a migrant shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, I met families from Ukraine, Eritrea, Cuba and Venezuela seeking asylum in the US. I was traveling the US-Mexico border, working on a global migration project with photographer John Stanmeyer for National Geographic.
On Thursday, President Trump threatened, via Twitter, to impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting June 10, “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.” In a presidential statement, he further explained that “if the crisis persists” he will raise the tariff by an additional 5% each month for four months.
When I heard this news, my mind instantly jumped to those innocent families that I had met in Reynosa — because it’s clear what he means by “if the crisis persists.” He’s talking about the incoming undocumented immigrants from Mexico whom he has tried to cast as criminals ever since he referred to them as “rapists” on the campaign trail.
It makes sense that a President who has constantly insulted the character and nature of people who are simply looking to find a better life would have no understanding of global migration and the forces that prompt it. Instead of working to address real crises — like climate change — that drive migration, President Trump is threatening to punish Mexico.
If Mexico complies with Trump’s demands, migrants and asylum seekers in particular, could face increasingly inhumane treatment. In the case that Mexico does nothing, or retaliates with additional tariffs, US and Mexican citizens will bear the brunt of the grave economic consequences. According to the New York Times, Mexico sent the US $346.5 billion of goods last year and 5% of tariffs would amount to more than $17 billion — a burden that will most likely be passed on to businesses and consumers.
By singling out Mexico for punishment, Trump fails to recognize the truly global reality of migration. Last week, when I was interviewing migrant families from Eritrea alongside those from Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador, they described the complex political and environmental factors that drove them to seek asylum in the US. I wish President Trump would listen to their stories rather than continuing to treat Mexico, our closest neighbor and trading partner, as if it were solely responsible for controlling global migration flows.
President Trump has long railed against undocumented immigrants while proposing dubious methods to stem the tide of migration from our southern border. In addition to the recent tariffs, Trump is considering a rule to prohibit migrants from seeking asylum if they have passed through a country other than their own before arriving at the US, according to a senior administration official and a source close to the White House who spoke to CNN.
Migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border were typically allowed to request asylum without being turned away during the waiting process or separated from their children. During the Trump administration, all of that has changed.
It is unclear how many families have been separated at the border, and there could be thousands more than the 2,737 cases officials have already acknowledged. Migrants seeking asylum in the US have been turned back to Mexico while their cases are still pending in a major policy shift that is currently being challenged in court. The asylum process, which I reported on for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting this year, can take months or years.
In Reynosa, I interviewed Cubans and Ukrainians who were forced to wait in Mexico. Among other things, many of these migrants, who have little or no money, face violence and are at risk of being kidnapped by drug cartels.
In April, Trump gave a speech on immigration and lumped together asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, making the argument that the US will not accept any more immigrants. In response to Trump’s threat of tariffs, Mexican President López Obrador wrote a letter Thursday in which he reminded President Trump that “The Statue of Liberty isn’t a meaningless symbol.”
Having spent time along the border and interviewed countless asylum seekers from all over the world, it is apparent to me that the crisis is one created by President Trump, who has increasingly limited the legal right to request asylum while stoking fears that migrants pose a national security threat.
When I heard the news of the tariffs on Mexico, I was reminded of a Honduran farmer who I met while covering the migrant caravan in November 2018 for Time Magazine. He was fleeing drought, and many other migrants from Central America told me about the fires and storms that have forced them leave their homes.
No tariff can prevent or criminalize migrants fleeing climate change, and perhaps we, as a nation of immigrants, should begin to think about that.