Abstract
Studies of political transnationalism have focused on the rapprochement and increased attention that the Mexican state has directed at the Mexican diaspora in the United States (see Iskander in Creative state: forty years of migration and development policy in Morocco and Mexico, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2010; Délano in Mexico and its diaspora in the United States: policies of emigration since 1848, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2011). In the context of the slow and painful democratic transition in Mexican politics, scholars and state actors have speculated that Mexican migrants in the United States are politically up for grabs, with no clear preference for any one particular Mexican party. Following the dubious return to power of the formerly hegemonic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) from 2012 to 2018, this essay tracks Mexican migrants’ views of the Peña Nieto administration using original public opinion survey data. Focusing on two of the flashpoints of the outgoing presidential administration in Mexico—namely the energy sector reforms and the case of the disappeared students from Ayotzinapa—this essay asks, how do Mexican migrants in the United States view the political performance of the Peña Nieto administration? Drawing on unpublished survey data tracing US-based Mexican migrants’ political assessment of the recently defeated PRI administration—from its ominous political ascension to its handling of structural reforms and egregious human rights crises—this essay argues that Mexican migrants’ views of the Peña Nieto administration were transnationally tinged by blood and oil.
Resúmen
Los estudios sobre el transnacionalismo político se han centrado en el acercamiento reconciliatorio y la mayor atención que el estado mexicano ha dirigido a la diáspora mexicana en los Estados Unidos (véase Iskander 2010; Délano 2011). En el contexto de la lenta y dolorosa transición democrática de la política mexicana, académicos y funcionarios del estado han especulado que los inmigrantes mexicanos en los Estados Unidos están disponibles para cualquier tendencia política y que no tienen una preferencia clara por un partido mexicano en particular. Después del dudoso regreso al poder del anteriormente hegemónico Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) de 2012 a 2018, este ensayo observa las opiniones de los inmigrantes mexicanos respecto la administración de Peña Nieto usando datos originales de encuestas de opinión pública. Este ensayo se enfoca en dos de los puntos álgidos de la administración presidencial saliente de México—las reformas al sector energético y el caso de los estudiantes desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa—para analizar cómo los inmigrantes mexicanos en los Estados Unidos ven el desempeño político de la administración de Peña Nieto. Partiendo de datos de encuestas inéditas que siguen la evaluación política de la recién derrotada administración del PRI por parte de los inmigrantes mexicanos en los Estados Unidos—desde su oscuro ascenso político hasta su gestión en las reformas estructurales y las atroces crisis de derechos humanos—este ensayo plantea que las opiniones de los inmigrantes mexicanos sobre la administración de Peña Nieto fueron matizadas transnacionalmente por la sangre y el petróleo.
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Notes
A portion of the research presented in this article was previously published by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) as “Truncated Transnationalism: The Migrant Vote in the 2012 Mexican Presidential Election” (https://nacla.org/article/truncated-transnationalism-migrant-vote-2012-mexican-presidential-election). Following De Genova (2004), I use the term “migrant” as opposed to “immigrant” throughout to underscore the transnational activities, orientations and identities of Mexican migrants in the United States, and use the latter only in reference to phrases such as “comprehensive immigration reform” or “immigrant rights.”
García-Acevedo (2003) argues unequivocally that Mexican migrants in the US constitute a diaspora as a displaced migrant population with a shared sense of homeland. Moreover, she documents the transnational politics of the Mexican diaspora (e.g., hometown associations) that cut across boundaries of nation and state. While the two terms are not interchangeable, Mexican migrants in the US are a diaspora whose transnational engagement takes many forms—ranging from cross-border political attitudes to action—requiring multiple methods to fully capture them, as this essay does. Migrant cross-border engagement in the politics of the home country is what Smith and Bakker refer to as the “first face of transnational citizenship,” whereas the “second face of transnational citizenship” refers to migrant activists re-crossing the border to engage in US politics (2008).
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Appendices
Appendix A
How much attention would you say you pay to the presidential election in Mexico? Would you say you pay a lot of attention, some attention, a little attention, or none at all?
Regardless of whether you actually vote in the Mexican election, which candidate do you support the most in the election?
Appendix B
Thinking about the recent Mexican presidential election, to what extent do you think these were free and fair elections? Would you say they were very free and fair, somewhat free and fair, not very free and fair, or not at all free and fair?
Some people believe that there was fraud in the Mexican presidential election and that this questions the credibility of the president-elect in Mexico. Would you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree?
Appendix C
How closely do you follow politics and news about Mexico? Very closely, somewhat closely, only a little, or not at all closely?
The federal government of Mexico is proposing to reform the Mexican Constitution as it pertains to its energy sector to allow private investment by private companies in oil production. Do you agree or disagree with this energy reform?
Appendix D
How would you rate the job the Mexican government did in the investigation of the 43 disappeared students from Guerrero?
Do you believe that the US should discontinue military aid to the Mexican government if there is corruption in the armed forces and police agencies in Mexico?
Do you think the US government should grant political asylum to persons fleeing the violence in Mexico?
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Félix, A. The double-edged blade of transnational citizenship: Mexican migrants’ views of the Peña Nieto administration. Lat Stud 17, 86–107 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-018-00163-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-018-00163-x