President Trump has declared a National Emergency over the immigration crisis. He is willing to change things at home and abroad. It is not just about building walls and deporting migrants. No. It is about ensuring national security and guaranteeing that all countries assume responsibility for illegal migration and drug violence.
Even though the challenge is massive and not free from controversies, his unconventional strategy seems to be working.
For the last four years, the leftist governments of Mexico, Colombia and Honduras have been using migration as a political weapon. That’s all over now. In just one week, Trump managed to make clear that deportations will not be subject to negotiation.
Mexico has been using migration as part of a domestic political campaign on behalf of its ruling party. Rather than help her migrants with more resources in Mexico’s consulates or through educational campaigns, President Claudia Sheinbaum has used the immigration issue as a political lever. She has been spouting nationalistic rhetoric against the U.S. “We are safer than the U.S. … We are not a colony of anyone. … Sovereignty is not to be trifled with.”
But how her tone has changed. Last week, she accepted four flights full of migrants into Mexico within less than 24 hours — a record one-day number, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
“Remain in Mexico” has been reactivated as of Jan. 21, as Sheinbaum bends the knee to Trump. Mexico’s government is welcoming back migrants from Mexico and other nationalities. Asylum-seekers traveling to the U.S. through Mexico will now have to do their paperwork and wait for adjudication in that country instead of coming into the U.S.
Colombian president Gustavo Petro, the former M-19 guerrilla leader, started a battle on X against Trump’s deportation policy, and he lived to regret it.
Petro, who received thousands of migrants under previous administrations, prohibited the entry of U.S. aircrafts filled with migrants. He called Trump slave owner, announced an economic war and threatened American residents in Colombia with irregular status. With this action , Petro threatened to dynamite the 200-year diplomatic relationship between Colombia and the United States.
Trump wasted no time responding. He reportedly paused his round of golf, whipped out his phone, and announced massive economic tariffs and sanctions against Colombia. Within hours, Petro had swallowed his words. After hurling a few face-saving insults toward Trump, he capitulated, agreeing to accept deported immigrants on Trump’s terms and even to lend out his presidential plane to repatriate other Colombians.
Colombia is not alone on its submission to U.S. migration policies. Honduras has backed down as well from its anti-imperialist rhetoric. President Xiomara Castro initially threatened to end anti-drug cooperation with the U.S., close military bases and reject Hondurans migrants. But the threats did not last long. Honduras has now agreed to receive the migrants and created a new program called “Brother Come Home,” to support them upon their return. The Honduras-U.S. relationship is still complex, but it has taken a dramatic turn for the better.
Trump’s policy of peace through strength is working. The new U.S. government has taken up the vision of Ronald Reagan and wants to regain the lost respect for the world power. It has become clear: There are no permanent friends or alliances, only the interest of putting America first.
Although Trump was successful with his migration strategy toward Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and even Canada, the real challenge remains the dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. This is where the real battle lies ahead.
Breaking the stranglehold of these dictatorships, which openly promote migration to the U.S., would be not only a political victory but an enduring legacy for the Trump administration. In the meantime, his unconventional and disruptive approach is proving to be successful.
Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former ambassador to the Organization of American States and former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense seminar and the Harvard and HarvardX Leadership course.
