- Secretary Bárcena visited the Mexican consulates in El Paso, San Antonio, Eagle Pass and Laredo, and met with the heads of Mexico’s ten consulates in Texas and strategic allies to strengthen assistance and protection for the Mexican community in case SB4 enters into force.
- She discussed the Mexican Model of Human Mobility with local and federal authorities to jointly address the structural causes of migration.
- The secretary met with business executives to discuss the growing trade relationship between Mexico and Texas and future prospects.
Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena traveled to Chihuahua on April 17 and then visited the Mexican consulates in El Paso, San Antonio, Eagle Pass and Laredo, Texas, to strengthen consular assistance and protection to the Mexican community in case SB4 enters into force. Her visit was part of the Foreign Ministry’s implementation of the Mexican Model of Human Mobility, and came at the instruction of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
On the first day, Secretary Bárcena toured the Leona Vicario Migrant Integration Center (CIM) in Ciudad Juarez, accompanied by Welfare Secretary Ariadna Montiel Reyes. The officials reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the centers through inter-institutional collaboration, as part of the work of the Interministerial Commission for Comprehensive Migration Management (CIAIMM), to protect migrants’ human rights.
Secretary Bárcena also visited the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) and met with Commissioner Adriana Reséndez Maldonado, with whom she discussed the Commission's powers on issues such as border sanitation, the international boundary line, crossings and bridges, and its work in the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso area.
In El Paso, Texas, Secretary Bárcena met with El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Estrella Escobar, Senior Chief of Staff to Mayor Leeser, to discuss migration at the border, Mexico's position on SB4, border infrastructure and bilateral trade.
The Secretary also met with El Paso business executives to analyze the growing trade relationship between Mexico and Texas, which currently amounts to more than 285 billion dollars, and the region’s economic prospects.
"We want it to be understood that there is more to the relationship between Mexico and the United States. We can turn this region into the most powerful economic region in the world [...] today we are the U.S.’ top trading partners. We trade almost 1.5 million dollars per minute," said Secretary Bárcena.
The Foreign Secretary visited El Paso Healing Garden, a national monument that commemorates the victims of August 3, 2019 mass shooting. She laid a wreath in memory of the Mexicans who lost their lives due to hate speech, saying that it is essential that tragedies such as this not be repeated.
On her second day in El Paso, Texas, the Secretary met with representatives of Customs and Border Protection; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; and the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez, with whom she discussed the Mexican Model of Human Mobility, stressing the need to address the structural causes of migration together, and the preventive strategy that Mexican consulates carry out in response to anti-immigrant measures.
She then visited the Paso del Norte International Bridge with U.S. Border Patrol authorities to strengthen the ties of cooperation and discuss migration and assisted returns.
At the Consulate General of Mexico in El Paso, the Foreign Secretary met with strategic allies and civil society organizations to discuss Mexico’s strategy in case SB4 enters into force. Representatives from organizations such as Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Colonias Development Council, Border Network for Human Rights, Estrella del Paso and the Casa Anunciación Shelter participated in the meeting.
At the consulate, the Secretary issued identification documents to Mexican residents in the area, and acknowledged the efforts and commitment of the diplomatic personnel in their daily defense of the Mexican community.
On Friday, April 19, Secretary Bárcena met with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and the Mexican consuls in San Antonio, Presidio, McAllen, Laredo, Houston, El Paso, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Dallas and Brownsville, who make up the Texcoco Group, to analyze the challenges of serving the Mexican community in Texas, especially regarding anti-immigrant legislation such as SB4.
The Secretary met with San Antonio community leaders and representatives to strengthen the ties of cooperation between the organizations and the 11 Mexican consulates in Texas. Organizations such as Texas Civil Rights Project, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, American Civil Liberties Union and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) participated in the meeting.
While at the Consulate General of Mexico in San Antonio, the Secretary thanked the diplomatic personnel for its committed defense of the Mexican community.
On the last day of her trip, in Eagle Pass, Texas, Secretary Bárcena met with Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr., local and Maverick County authorities, and state and federal representatives, where she called for greater cooperation to benefit the border community. She also met with Border Patrol officials at the Firefly station.
At the consulate in Eagle Pass, the Secretary met with community members to expand support networks for the Mexican diaspora, with the participation of representatives from Eagle Pass Safe, Pan American Roundtable, Eagle Pass Border Coalition and other organizations.
In Laredo, Texas, the last stop on her tour, the Secretary toured the Nuevo Laredo III International Bridge and the World Trade Bridge, accompanied by Mayor Victor Treviño and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials; Tamaulipas Economic Development Secretary Ninfa Cantú Deándar; Public Works Secretary Pedro Cepeda Anaya; and Carlos Irán Ramírez González from the Finance Ministry, who participated on behalf of Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal Anaya. The officials discussed the commercial traffic at the border crossings.
The Foreign Secretary ended her visit at the Consulate General of Mexico in Laredo, where she spoke with the Mexican community about their needs and current situation.
Accompanying Secretary Bárcena on her travel were Chief Officer for North America Roberto Velasco Álvarez; Director General of Consular Protection and Strategic Planning Vanessa Calva Ruiz; Director General of Political Affairs for North America Cristina Planter Riebeling; Director General of Coordination and Inter-Institutional Follow-up Luis Mingo Nyssen; Communications Director José Manuel Gutiérrez Minera; and the consuls of Mexico in El Paso, Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de León; San Antonio, Rubén Minutti Zanatta; Eagle Pass, Vívian Juárez Mondragón; and Laredo, Juan Carlos Mendoza Sánchez.
