Leaders of migrant organizations based in the United States expressed their disappointment and indignation with the treatment that the government of the United States gives them. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Artemio Arreola, coordinator of Political Affairs of Fuerza Migrante and president of the Michoacán House in Chicago, he assured that the current federal government “has turned its back on Mexicans abroad.” Since 2018, when he campaigned in the United States, until now, López Obrador “just spends his time talking nice, but doing nothing,” he stressed.
He said that, despite the fact that there were a series of requests to maintain programs to support Mexicans abroad and their communities of origin in Mexico, when designing and approving the budget for 2022, there was only one outright refusal.
It is a government that is only “pure taco de lengua; He talks a lot and recently ”, he reproached.
The migrant from Michoacán demanded that the head of the federal executive call them living heroes, when he does not support them.
That has just been demonstrated once again when Morena and his allies in the Union Congress have just approved the budget for 2022 and only contemplated a “meager” amount for actions to support migrants, he insisted.
In that sense, he stressed that where more resources are allocated is to consular services, but each procedure charges them.
“There was a program to help deportees and they took it away; there was a program to help our communities and they took it away. There are no educational, arts, or cultural programs for the children of migrants in the United States. There is nothing for those generations ”, he stressed.
The leader stressed that it is estimated that, at the end of this year, migrants will send to Mexico around 50,000 million dollars in remittances, of which 16% will be converted into taxes via consumption.
Despite this, there is no political will to allocate resources to those who sweat it in the United States, he added.
AMLO should not presume remittances
For his part, Carlos Arango, leader of the National Immigrant Front, considered that the treatment that the Mexican government wants to give to the migrant communities abroad was evidenced during the budget discussion, where the parties of the so-called Fourth Transformation did not admit the reservations raised by migrant deputies in order to provide resources to programs in favor of them and their families in Mexico.
The deputies said everything, but did not listen, even though there were concrete proposals such as finding a way to restore the 3×1 program, which was eliminated on the grounds that there was a lot of corruption, he added.
In his opinion, efforts like that could have been improved and eliminated corruption, if any, but still maintaining the benefits it generated for the communities where the migrants willing to support originate.
He said that no resources were allocated to reinforce the Mexican consulates in the United States, despite the fact that President López Obrador promised to do so when he was campaigning, when he even said that he would make those representations true attorneys in defense of migrants.
“It was a guajiro dream, because none of that has happened; on the contrary, it has reduced their budget ”, he stressed.
The leader affirmed that the attention in the consulates, apart from being rude, is limited, since they are beyond reality.
The problem, he added, is that many of the migrants need to process their documents at the consular representations, but this has been particularly difficult during the period of the pandemic, since the consulates were closed for almost a year.
Arango indicated that it is necessary to invest in the defense of migrants, which can be done, especially when the Mexican government itself says that this sector of the population is heroes for the amount of remittances they send to their communities and during this period pandemic has been very important to maintain consumption in Mexico.
“Mexicans send money to their communities because they have a commitment to their families, because of the insecurity they face in the places where they work and because they always seek to have a cushion in case of being deported. I don’t know why the president presumes it so much, that has nothing to do with his management. He does nothing to ensure that these resources reach Mexico, ”he said.
We do not expect anything from the president: Erasmo Salgado
In turn, Erasmo Salgado, leader of the United Guerrerenses Clubs of the Midwest of the United States, said that when the budget was designed and then when it was approved in Congress, the so-called fourth transformation “kicked” the proposals made by migrant organizations , particularly those based in the United States.
He said that Mexicans in that nation do not expect anything from President López Obrador, because all he does is demagoguery, in addition to being totally out of touch with reality.
He drew attention to the fact that the successful programs that had been promoted by migrants were disappeared by the current government, including the one for the repatriation of bodies of Mexicans.
He said that, although the contributions made to the relatives in those cases were not enough to carry out the repatriation, it meant an important help to be able to return to their communities the Mexicans who died in the United States and their relatives did not have the resources. to make those transfers.
He reported that it currently costs between $ 5,000 and $ 6,000 to transfer a body from the United States to Mexico.
He commented that the state governments that emerged from Morena do the same. In Guerrero, during the administration of Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores, there was a program through which, when a migrant from Guerrero died in the United States, the state government collected the body at the airport in Mexico and took it free to its place of origin. but with the arrival of the current government it was eliminated.
We are not from any political party, but we are realizing that there is nothing for us. This administration of the federal government is not reciprocal with migrants.
They did not accept any proposal for the budget, recriminates Yolanda Martínez
In turn, the migrant federal deputy, Elvia Yolanda Martínez Cosío, explained that in the discussion of the budget for 2022 in Congress, she made several proposals to meet the needs of migrants, but they were rejected.
The legislator of the Citizen Movement bench recalled that Morena pointed out that the budget for Branch 05, of Foreign Relations, was increased, which is true, “but the bags were increased in a tricky way, which are used in a discretionary manner by the government. federal”.
What they approved will go to the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, which is not bad, “but not to our migrants.”
She stated that one of the reservations she presented was to increase 105 million pesos to the Consular Assistance, Protection and Services Program, which was rejected.
Our Mexican migrants require consular assistance, advice, protection, their passports, their identity documents and consular services are overwhelmed because there is no budget, they do not have staff, he added.
He also proposed and was rejected the proposal to increase 75 million pesos to the Migrant Assistance Program, specifically to vulnerable groups, such as unaccompanied children.
Likewise, his proposal to create the Fund for Dignified Repatriation, with 60 million pesos, was rejected in order to facilitate the correct and dignified return of Mexicans who have lost their lives outside the country.
He even proposed to allocate 200 million pesos to create the social support fund for former workers who have rendered their services, that is, ex-braceros.
He recalled that Mexico has disobeyed the judicial resolution that determines that each bracero is owed one million 96,000 pesos and demanded that President López Obrador fulfill his campaign promise to resolve the historical debt with that sector of the population who are over 70 years old. and is current.
The legislator also proposed to allocate 300 million pesos to create the Migrant Conversion Program or 3×1, to carry out projects for the development of the communities of origin of the migrants and it was not accepted either.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx