Mexican Government Uses Disinformation to Influence Texas Politics

SB4 Sanctuary City Law Protest
AP File Photo: Eric Gay

The Mexican government has joined pro-amnesty, open border advocates, and Democrat-run cities in the state, to challenge Texas’ new anti-sanctuary jurisdiction law. In doing so, Mexican officials are using disinformation to try to influence politics in Texas.

The Mexican government claims it has a “non-renounceable duty to protect the rights of Mexicans abroad” and has filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the litigation. Mexican officials are using falsehoods and misinformation in inserting their country into the fight to overturn the law.

Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations Videgaray Caso writes on an official government website that Texas Senate Bill 4 “requires” law enforcement officials to ask anyone stopped about their immigration status.

Caso says Mexico filed the amicus brief:

to affirm the preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of Texas SB4 that require police and other state officers to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop; as well as those that would require local law enforcement authorities to hold immigrants longer than would otherwise be the case to transfer them to federal authorities.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart Texas immediately after signing SB4 into law, Texas Governor Greg Abbott explained that “allowing” police officers to inquire about the immigration status of a person legally detained is one of the key differences between the Texas law and the successfully challenged Arizona law.

The new statute is now the toughest anti-sanctuary city law in the United States. It provides for criminal and civil penalties for police chiefs and sheriffs that refuse to honor immigration detainers.

Mexican officials say that “will continue to follow closely the legal process against SB4” and they threaten to “use all possible means, including legal actions, to safeguard due process and prevent that the rights of our citizens are violated.”

The country just south of Texas proclaims that “Laws like SB4 open the door to possible acts of racial profiling, and promote an environment of persecution.”

The interjection into the lawsuit by Mexico against Texas comes about the same time the International Red Cross has compared the Mexico-Texas border to a war zone.

Last week, the president of the International Red Cross, Peter Maurer, said the impacts of the violence in the county was similar to what they have seen in war zones, Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz reported. Members of the organization visited Reynosa which is a battle zone for rival Mexican cartels.

The purpose of their visit was to evaluate the effects of organized crime and illegal immigration in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. This Mexican state borders the Rio Grande Valley communities of McAllen and Brownsville, and westward to Laredo.

Maurer tweeted on October 17 that one of their schools was empty and “eerily quiet. After violent clashes on the streets of Tamaulipas, #Mexico, it’s too dangerous for classes today.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTXGab, and Facebook.

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