SAN ANTONIO — Claudia Sheinbaum will officially become Mexico's first female president in October. What this potentially means for the future of immigration and economic ties with Texas and the U.S. remains to be seen, but experts are chiming in on the prospects.
Sheinbaum, 61, is a climate scientist whose political career began as an activist. The former Mexico City mayor is seen as a protégé of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López.
"She's continuing the policies of (President) Andres Lopez Obrador. He has pushed for basically a policy that has tried to lift up the poor and Sheinbaum has declared that she will continue those policies. What will be interesting to see for Sheinbaum in particular is her relationship with the United States," said Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
There are questions on how Sheinbaum's presidency could impact immigration and foreign affairs with the U.S.
Taylor pointed to the past year of cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. governments to curb the flow of unlawful migration.
“Mexico had assisted the United States with reducing unlawful migration into the U.S. during the spring where we saw a massive decline in the number of people that were being encountered and apprehended. The question is will Sheinbaum continue that policy that AMLO (President Andrés Manuel López) had basically started," he said.
Immigration attorney Gerardo Menchaca anticipates Sheinbaum will focus her efforts on a more humanitarian approach that emphasizes cooperation.
"It is expected that the new president will treat immigrations crossing through Mexico into the United States more humanely. While the laws may be enforced and they might get deported from Mexico and rounded up, the idea is that those people will be treated more humanely than they have been in the past. And hopefully that translates to a more humane treatment of immigrants on the U.S. side of the border," Menchaca said. “The U.S. blames Mexico for not curbing the path of immigrants trying to reach the southern border and Mexico blames the U.S. for not doing much to address the root causes of immigration. We’re hoping that with the new president, the tempers calm down and solutions can be achieved."
Luis Rodriguez, president and CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, has his eyes set on working with the new Mexican president and her administration in the coming months. He stressed the importance of the Chamber's mission to foster positive relations with global leaders, including Mexico.
Of the Chamber's five pillars, one deals with international trade where the organization and its members engage in trade missions, working with worldwide governments, trade associations and business leaders.
“Mexico is our (Texas) largest trading partner. I believe we did $132 billion in imports last year," Rodriguez said. "Just like we have our Friendship Torch here, we remind them that we are a city that is filled with pride of our friendship with Mexico and hope to continue this commerce both ways," Rodriguez said.
President-elect Sheinbaum will assume office in October.
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