Was Donald Trump right?
Also in this edition: Thousands march for Cuba. Francesca Albanese: “I won’t back down”. El Salón Los Ángeles celebrates 89 years. More iconic landmarks of Chilanga Culture.
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Was Donald Trump right about undocumented immigration? Well, yes, about one thing: undocumented immigration increased dramatically under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. The arrival of millions more people without legal status or protections has been confirmed by a new report, which found that after remaining at around 11 million between 2010 and 2019, the undocumented population in the United States surged to 15.8 million by mid-2024.
But the greatest failure of previous administrations was not their inability to stop migration flows. It was their failure, and unwillingness to invest political capital, on passing comprehensive immigration reform that would have brought undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. That failure opened the door for Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. Trump described the influx as an "invasion" that was "poisoning the blood" of the United States, and he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015 by accusing Mexico of "sending criminals and rapists."
Although Mexico remains the largest country of origin for immigrants overall, the share of Mexicans within the undocumented population has fallen dramatically. They accounted for the overwhelming majority in the 1980s and 1990s, representing 62 percent of the undocumented population in 2010, and just 35 percent by 2024.
In its first months in office, the Biden administration introduced a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. But, like the Obama administration during both of its terms, it ultimately chose not to invest enough political capital to secure its passage in Congress. Instead of pursuing comprehensive reform, the Biden administration negotiated an agreement with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Under the deal, Washington would admit up to 30,000 asylum seekers per month from Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba under humanitarian parole while immigration courts reviewed their cases. Combined with the expansion of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and other measures providing temporary legal status to immigrants, these policies reshaped the profile of the undocumented population in the United States.
“As a result of these grants of humanitarian parole and other measures adopted by the Biden administration, by mid-2024, as many as 40 percent of unauthorized immigrants in the United States held a liminal legal status that provided temporary protection from deportation,” analysts at the Migration Policy Institute explain.
These figures predate Trump's return to the White House. Upon taking office in January 2025, he moved almost immediately to close the border to migrants—a goal he achieved with Mexico's cooperation. He ended humanitarian parole programs, launched a sweeping and expedited campaign to deport undocumented immigrants already living in the country, and adopted measures designed to encourage immigrants to choose “self-deportation.” This week, he also ordered the expedited denial of asylum applications without even granting applicants a hearing before an immigration judge.
What is going to happen?
These tactics are beginning to backfire. Among the roughly 350,000 Haitians who lost their work authorization at the end of June are many nurses who care for patients and older adults in major states such as Ohio, Florida, and New York. Ohio's Republican governor and officials in Miami have warned that the decision is creating a crisis in the healthcare sector and beyond. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also organized a letter to Congress protesting not only the decision affecting Haitians but the administration's broader immigration policy.
It is unlikely that President Trump will change course. The administration arrested a record number of immigrants last June, and all indications suggest that figure will be surpassed by the end of this month. The question, however, is whether the demands of the capitalist economy will ultimately force a shift in this policy. Experts say that is unlikely.
“What will happen if the Democrats win? Will we see a repeat of what happened after Trump's first administration—another surge in migration crossing Mexican territory on its way to the United States?” asks Jorge Durand.
“Where are migrants going?” asks Ana María Aragonés. “The anti-immigrant policies promoted by Donald Trump will not stop migration. People will continue to move as long as deep economic inequalities, lack of opportunity, and insecurity persist. What is changing is the geography of migration. As the countries that have served for decades as the primary destinations for international migrants become politically closed off, countries that were once merely transit points are increasingly becoming destinations themselves.”
The Quote:
"I've polished the floorboard on this dance floor several times—sometimes as a carpenter, other times as a dancer."
—Ernesto Muñiz, a cabinetmaker and carpenter from the Guerrero neighborhood, speaking about Salón Los Ángeles
In Case You Missed It
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◻️ “Down with the blockade, oil for Cuba!”, chanted thousands of people who marched through the streets of Mexico City to express their support for the island and demand an end to the U.S. economic blockade. The island has become a point of reference for Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly one hundred organizations and collectives said. “Cuba has paid an extremely high price for its independence and the defense of its sovereignty, and that fact alone makes it an indispensable example for the world,” La Jornada stated.
◻️ Evangelical churches are gaining ground. Non-Catholic churches, mainly Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal denominations, along with new religious groups, continue to gain followers among Mexico’s population. In some municipalities, they have even ceased to be minorities and have become majorities. In 1990, nearly 90 percent of people aged five and older were Catholic, but by 2020, Catholics accounted for 76.4 percent of the population nationwide, while nearly 10 million people said they had no religion.
◻️ Mothers and fathers of the 43 demand justice in Mexico City. Relatives of the 43 Ayotzinapa students who disappeared in 2014 reiterated that, nearly 12 years after the attack in Iguala, Guerrero, there are “many outstanding issues regarding progress in the lines of investigation.” The President said that the case’s prosecutor, Mauricio Pazarán, has brought a different perspective to the file, which “is producing many results,” by returning to a scientific approach to the investigation and identifying “some omissions in the inquiries that were carried out.”
◻️ Venezuela: sanctions worsen the consequences of the earthquake. “The most important measure to save lives in Venezuela’s immediate post-earthquake future will be for the world’s main actors—the United States, together with its European allies—to stop blocking access to the billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets” and lift the economic sanctions, writes Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
◻️ “I will not back down”: Francesca Albanese. The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur discusses the occupied Palestinian territories, genocide, the obligations of member states of the International Criminal Court, and the complicity of dozens of nations and companies in the crisis in Gaza in a conversation with the editors of The Nation. “Palantir, for example, has developed technology based on the despair and the misery (inflicted) on the people of Gaza,” she says. “Now we need to organize. And how do we organize? Doing the right thing: ethical consumption, ethical investments, moving savings out of banks who invest in the arms industry. If everyone did the right thing—everyone as they can, everyone as they know—we will be done with it.”
◻️ Chilango culture. There are two urban spaces that embody distinctive traits of the chilango character, whose uniqueness has been accentuated, polished, or transformed over the decades: the Tianguis del Chopo and La Lagunilla.
◻️ Salón Los Ángeles turns 89. Salón Los Ángeles became the temple of Mexican dance halls, standing out among other venues of its kind because of its outstanding musical programming and the diversity of its patrons: pachucos, factory workers, taxi drivers, merchants, office employees, artists, and intellectuals.
📚 What We Are Reading
David Brooks, La Jornada correspondent, receives Special Mention of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize.
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Edited by David Brooks and Jim Cason in the United States, Tania Molina Ramírez in Mexico City, of La Jornada, and Elizabeth Coll in Tokyo, under the direction of Carmen Lira Saade and Guillermina Álvarez. More information.