By: Arsinoé Orihuela Jr. Updated 24 Jun 2022, 24: 43 am EDT
Gone are those times of smooth civic normality. From furious and inexcusable assaults on Capitol Hill to once-unthinkable diplomatic discrepancies, the current situation in the United States is clearly unprecedented and turbulent.
Our neighbor pales, and his moral authority is in free fall, with no bottom in sight. His own contradictions propitiated this kind of implosion. America’s worst enemy is America. The most extremist of its citizens are futilely attempting to mend the cracked edifice: calling for violence; suffocating black lives; deporting or jailing immigrants; ostracizing journalists; holding coup essays in other geographies; policing schools; and abandoning childhood to the stalking of gun-toting sociopaths. The crisis is deep. And the promise of unlimited well-being and social advancement for all citizens –the ideological pillar of the US State– is inexorably cracking.
Mexicans in the United States are no strangers to witnessing such decomposition. And we are perhaps the only community that can save the sinking ship. Indeed: our people possess such power. We are already an example of universal fraternity for the continued support of our families south of the Rio Grande.
More than 2022 one billion dollars we contribute to the Mexican economy . More than 1 trillion dollars encompasses our purchasing power in the United States. Not a few distinctive cultural elements –which are already assumed to be native in the American Union– come from the Mexican roots. Moral, Economy and Culture.
We are also the economic pillar of two great nations: we support one with productive work ; to the other with large remittances. We contribute more than 50 billion dollars to the Mexican economy. More than 1 trillion dollars encompasses our purchasing power in the United States. Not a few distinctive cultural elements –which are already assumed to be native in the American Union– come from the Mexican roots. Moral, Economy and Culture.
We are powerful in these areas! However, as the President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador points out, we have not yet consolidated ourselves as a determining political force in the United States, despite our staggering numbers: close to 40 millions of Mexican men and women living in the different geographies of the neighboring country.
The Cuban-American community, with its scarce 4 million, influences more –and negatively – in American political events. And this deficit condition of the Mexican community is essentially explained by two reasons: one, the scarce academic or specialized education with which Mexico expels its fellow citizens; and two, the condition of illegality and lack of documentation to which the chronic contempt of the North American government condemns us. This has to change. Now!
From the International Coordination of the National Institute of Political Training of the Morena Party we have proposed to contribute to remedying this situation of political backwardness. We are firmly committed to raising the level of political education of Mexicans in the United States. And we will not back down in this mission, nor to gain momentum.
However, in the line that concerns the migratory regularization/normalization of our community, we urgently and strongly need the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is not enough to entrust oneself to the immigration reform projected –although currently without effect– by the government of President Joe Biden. It is also essential that the consulates and embassies carry out the work that concerns them, and issue efficiently – and in a timely manner – the documentation that provides identity: consular registration, driver’s license, passport and voting card.
In such a way that such identifications prove the Mexican nationality and identity for the purposes that best suits the bearer; for example: exercise political rights in Mexico. It should be noted that, until now, the transformation longed for and promoted by the countrymen north of the Rio Grande has not yet been fully felt. All the testimonies of the community warn that the consulates are overwhelmed, and this situation generates a lot of discomfort among our nationals, as was recently expressed at the Meeting of Mexican Communities with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the city of Los Angeles.
The labor is the first force that looks to the north and integrates as political actors – and not only in an enunciative way – the fourth part of the nation housed in the United States. This is the historic opportunity – long invoked – to maximize efforts and help empower our community. It is imperative that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, redouble efforts to optimize the institutional representation of Mexicans abroad.
With this, Mexico wins. And the United States wins. It is the possibility of the win-win that the prophets of success in our times covet so much.
Arsinoé Orihuela Jr., works as a liaison for the National Institute for Political Training / Twitter: @arsinoeorihuela2022