Mexicans want to strike back after Trump sends the National Guard to the border

REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

A man holds up a placard with an image of US President Donald Trump during a march to protest against Trump's proposed border wall and to call for unity, in Mexico City, Mexico, February 12, 2017.

• President Donald Trump is sending National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border.
• It's not the first such deployment, but it has raised the ire of Mexican citizens and lawmakers.
• Trump has railed against Mexico for some time, and critics on both sides of the border say harming the relationship hurts the US.

In the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border, senators in Mexico are calling on their government to retaliate by cutting off cooperation on security and immigration issues.

In a nonbinding resolution approved unanimously on Wednesday, senators said they "condemn [Trump's] baseless and offensive comments about Mexico and Mexicans and demand the treatment that the relationship between neighbors, partners, and allies requires."

Lawmakers rejected "categorically the intention of President Donald Trump to militarize the border with Mexico and consider such action one insult more."

REUTERS/Henry Romero

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto shake hands at a press conference at the Los Pinos residence in Mexico City, August 31, 2016.

They called on President Enrique Peña Nieto "to suspend the bilateral cooperation with the United States of America on matters of migration and the fight against transnational organized crime as long as President Donald Trump does not conduct himself with the civility and the respect that the people of Mexico deserve."

The motion also called on the US Congress to urge Trump "to direct relations with Mexico on the basis of respect and mutual collaboration" to confront shared challenges and foster prosperity and development.

Laura Rojas, a member of the National Action Party and head of the Senate's foreign relations committee, spoke in support of the motion, saying Trump's "conduct has been permanently and systematically not only disrespectful but insulting, based on prejudices and misinformation and making frequent use of threats and blackmail."

The Trump administration plans to work with four states in the US southwest to deploy the troops, who will not be armed nor involved in law enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen said, according to Reuters.

The Mexican senate's motion is not likely to lead to policy changes. Its passage was followed by a statement from Mexico's Foreign Ministry, which said it would stay in close contact with the Homeland Security Department about the deployment.

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Activists with signs that read, in Spanish, "Racism is not commerce," during a protest against NAFTA renegotiations, in Mexico City, February 27, 2018.

In a rare show of agreement, Mexico's four main presidential candidates issued statements condemning the decision to send troops to the border.

"No to the militarization of the border, no to the wall," leftist frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Twitter. "Yes to mutual respect and to cooperation for development."

Jose Antonio Meade, candidate for the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, said "sending your army to the border will be an unacceptable offense for our country" in a Twitter message directed at Trump. Margarita Zavala, an independent candidate, said that despite differences on display in the campaign, "we speak with one voice and we demand respect."

Ricardo Anaya, running from the National Action Party, said Mexico should condition cooperation with the US on "ending attacks against Mexicans, suspending the sending of troops to the border, and the end of the threats."

'Trump risks cutting off his nose to spite his face'

Trump has criticized Mexico since launching his presidential campaign in 2015, and for much of that period critics on both sides of the border have condemned his attacks and described how Mexico could respond.

Mexico extensive cooperation on immigration and security are two areas where Mexico could cut off joint efforts with the US, undercutting US security interests. Some prominent Mexicans have called on their government to sue the US for reparations and indemnification over the territory lost in the 1848 Mexican-American War.

Mexico also has financial leverage that some have encouraged it to use. In early 2017, activists organized a campaign to get Mexico to stop buying corn from the US, a measure that could hit the wallets of many farmers in states that went to Trump in the 2016 election. Mexican officials have also said their government could respond in kind to any tariffs Trump levies against Mexico.

Mexican Defense Secretariat/Twitter

US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, in the blue shirt, observes opium-poppy eradication operations in Mexico's Guerrero state, July 6, 2017.

Security matters, particularly anti-drug efforts, are perhaps the most prominent issue on which the two countries cooperate. The Mexican government recently allowed the US military to observe opium-eradication efforts for the first time in at least a decade - a decision that was followed by a visit to opium-growing regions by then-Homeland Security chief John Kelly and then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Endangering joint anti-drug efforts is particularly perilous for Trump, Rebecca Bill Chavez, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in February.

"In jeopardizing counternarcotics collaboration, President Trump risks cutting off his nose to spite his face," Chavez said. "I mean this is a policy priority for Trump ... the US supply-side approach requires Mexican assistance and collaboration."