U.S. Migration Policy Radicalization (2017-2019): Case of Mexico and Central America

Abstract

This article is an attempt to critically analyze the policy of the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump regarding the southern border of the USA with Mexico. The paper analyzes the approach of Washington under the administration of D. Trump to the problem of the joint border between USA and Mexico, as well as conducts a comprehensive assessment of the main programs underlying the most pressing changes in D. Trumps policy in this area. In particular, the paper focuses on the structure of migration flows between 2017 and 2019, as well as on the reasons behind those changes. The author looks at the root causes of the unprecedented increase in the flow of potential migrants and refugees, and correlates them with the ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crises in the Central American sub-region. An important focus is given to the increasing role of Mexico in the settlement of this issue, as well as to the potential impact of such cooperation between the authorities of the United States and Mexico on the situation in Central America and Latin America in general. The significance of this paper is determined by the objective necessity of academic evaluation of the Donald Trumps administration impact on the United States governmental and foreign policy course. The author argues that the approach of the 45th president of the United States regarding traditionally sensitive issues like US - Mexico border control and migration has been mostly based on coercive tactics with obvious disregard towards social basis and root-causes of the issue at hand. One of the most distinguished traits of this approach is the practice of outsourcing managing the problem of refugees from Central America to the border-country, which in this specific case is Mexico.

Untitled

“…Because of that, the main Latin American integration structure at the time, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), began to rapidly lose influence and priority, leading to its future demise. In the U.S. during this period, the election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was raging, but neither candidate gave any serious consideration to the place and role of Latin America for Washington during their electoral campaigns [Eremin, 2021]. Indeed, in the aftermath, the administration of the 45th U.S. president did not assign the Latin American foreign policy vector any significant priority, which led to a number of controversial decisions and further deterioration of a large number of bilateral and multilateral ties in the region [Yakovlev, 2020].…”