Editing Foreign relations of Mexico (section)

==Transnational issues==

===Illicit drugs===
{{Main|Mexican Drug War|Mérida Initiative}}
Mexico remains a transit and not a [[Cocaine#Production|cocaine production country]].<ref>{{cite web | author=Central Intelligence Agency | title=Illicit drugs | year=2008 | publisher=CIA: the World Fact Book | url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2086.html | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229044611/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2086.html | archive-date=December 29, 2010 | url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Methamphetamine]] and [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] production do take place in Mexico and are responsible for an estimated 80% of the methamphetamine on the streets in the United States,<ref>{{cite news | title=Mexico Security Memo | date=July 28, 2008 | publisher=Stratfor | url=http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/mexico_security_memo_july_28_2008_0 | access-date=April 12, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213170012/http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/mexico_security_memo_july_28_2008_0 | archive-date=February 13, 2012}}</ref> while 1,100 metric tons of marijuana are smuggled each year from Mexico.<ref>{{Cite book | contribution=National Drug Threat Assessment 2006 | title=Marijuana – Strategic findings | publisher=U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center | date=January 2006 | contribution-url=http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs11/18862/marijuan.htm | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=April 25, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425033610/http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs11/18862/marijuan.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1990 just over half the cocaine imported into the U.S. came through Mexico, by 2007 that had risen to more than 90 percent, according to [[U.S. State Department]] estimates.<ref>{{cite news | first=Bernd | last=Debusmann | author2=Sean Maguire | title=Bernd Debusmann: In Mexico's drug wars, bullets and ballads | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSL0922436820080709?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 | work=Reuters | page=2 | date=July 9, 2008 | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=June 5, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605100401/https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSL0922436820080709?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 | url-status=live }}</ref> Although violence between [[drug cartel]]s has been occurring long before the war began, the government used its police forces in the 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century with little effect. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected [[Mexican President|President]] [[Felipe Calderón]] sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of [[Michoacán]] to put an end to drug violence there. This action is regarded as the first major retaliation made against cartel operations, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the [[Mexican Drug War|war between the government and the drug cartels]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/11/america/LA_GEN_Mexico_Drug_Violence.php | title=Mexican government sends 6,500 to state scarred by drug violence | date=December 11, 2008 | work=[[International Herald Tribune]] | access-date=April 13, 2009 | archive-date=March 7, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307044950/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/11/america/LA_GEN_Mexico_Drug_Violence.php | url-status=live }}</ref> As time progressed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now well over 25,000 troops involved.<ref>{{cite news | author=Frank Jack Daniel | title=Mexican soldiers arrested for killing family | date=June 4, 2008 | agency=Reuters | url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04206352.htm | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=October 1, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001160525/http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04206352.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> It is estimated that during 2006, there were about 2,000 drug-related violent deaths,<ref>{{cite news | author=Hector Tobar; Cecilia Sanchez | title=Mexico's drug war death toll tops 2,000 | date=November 14, 2006 | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/14/MNGL3MC3I91.DTL | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=April 19, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419161858/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F11%2F14%2FMNGL3MC3I91.DTL | url-status=live }}</ref> about 2,300 deaths during 2007,<ref>{{cite web | agency=Associated Press | title=No. 2 police officer in Mexican border city shot | date=May 11, 2008 | work=NBC News | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24558662 | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=May 25, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525022653/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24558662 | url-status=live }}</ref> and more than 6,200 people by the end of 2008.<ref>{{cite news | author=March Lacey | title=In Drug War, Mexico Fights Cartel and Itself | date=March 29, 2009 | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/world/americas/30mexico.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=May 25, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525063429/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/world/americas/30mexico.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp | url-status=live }}</ref> Many of the dead were gang members killed by rivals or by the government, some have been bystanders.

Drug trafficking is acknowledged as an issue with shared responsibilities that requires coordinated measures by the U.S. and Mexico. In March 2009, [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Hillary Clinton]], when [[state visit|officially visited]] [[Mexico City]], stated that:<ref>{{cite news | author=Mark Lander | title=Clinton Says U.S. Feeds Mexico Drug Trade | date=March 25, 2009 | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/world/americas/26mexico.html | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=August 15, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815100634/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/world/americas/26mexico.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Our insatiable demand for [[illegal drug]]s fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.}}

===Illegal migration===
{{Main|Illegal immigration to the United States}}
Almost a third of all immigrants in the U.S. were born in Mexico, being the source of the greatest number of both authorized (20%) and unauthorized (56%) migrants who come to the U.S. every year.<ref name="Selee p. 5">Selee (2007), p. 5</ref> Since the early 1990s, Mexican immigrants are no longer concentrated in California, the Southwest, and [[Illinois]], but have been coming to new gateway states, including New York, [[North Carolina]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Nevada]], and Washington, D.C., in increasing numbers.<ref name="Selee p. 5"/> This phenomenon can be mainly attributed to poverty in Mexico, the growing demand for unskilled labor in the U.S., the existence of established family and community networks that allow migrants to arrive in the U.S. with people known to them.<ref name="Selee p. 5"/>

The framework of [[List of United States immigration laws|U.S. immigration law]] has largely remained the same since 1965. The [[U.S. economy]] needs both high-skilled and low-skilled immigrant workers to remain competitive and to have enough workers who continue to pay into [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] as the U.S. population grows older. Nonetheless, there are currently very few channels for immigration to the U.S. for work-related reasons under current law.<ref>Selee (2007), p. 6</ref> Furthermore, [[Amnesty International]] has taken concern regarding the excessive brutality inflicted upon illegal immigrants, which includes beatings, sexual assault, denial of medical attention, and denial of food, water and warmth for long periods.<ref>{{cite web |author=Amnesty International |title=U.S.: human rights concerns in the border region with Mexico |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/003/1998/en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522092653/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/003/1998/en/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 22, 2022 |publisher=AI official website |access-date=April 12, 2009}}</ref>

For many years, the [[Mexican government]] showed limited interest in the issues. However, former [[Mexican President|President]] [[Vicente Fox]] actively sought to recognize the [[Economic impact of illegal immigrants in the United States|contribution of migrants to the U.S.]] and Mexico and to pursue a bilateral migration agreement with the [[U.S. government]], which eventually failed.<ref>Selee (2007), p. 9</ref> The administration of [[Felipe Calderón]] had placed an emphasis on how to create jobs in Mexico, enhance [[U.S.-Mexico border|border security]], and protect Mexican citizens living abroad.<ref>{{cite web | language=es | author=Comunicado del Gobierno Federal | title=Se reúne el Presidente Calderón con Janet Napolitano y Eric Holder; intercambian puntos de vista sobre agenda bilateral entre México y EUA | date=April 3, 2009 | publisher=Gobierno Mexicano | url=http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/prensa/?contenido=43763 | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=May 22, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522114405/http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/prensa/?contenido=43763 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Traditionally, Mexico built a reputation as one of the [[right of asylum|classic asylum countries]], with a varying attitude toward refugees from Spain and other [[European country|European countries]] before and during World War II, from Latin America's [[Southern Cone]] in the 1970s, and from Central America since the beginning of the 1980s.<ref name="ACNUR">{{cite news | author=Fabiola Martínez | title=México dice adiós a su tradición de asilo y deviene en tierra de rechazo | date=February 18, 2008 | work=La Jornada | publisher=UN High Commissioner for Refugees | url=http://www.acnur.org/paginas/?id_pag=7290 | access-date=April 12, 2009 | language=es | archive-date=October 1, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001211506/http://www.acnur.org/paginas/?id_pag=7290 | url-status=live }}</ref> However, in recent years refugees who solicit asylum are usually treated as if they were just immigrants, with exhaustive administrative processes.<ref name="ACNUR"/> The southern border of Mexico has experienced a significant increase in legal and illegal flows since the 1990s, in particular for migrants seeking to transit Mexico to reach the U.S.<ref>{{cite web | author=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development | title=Mexico | publisher=OECD official website | url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/13/41255942.pdf | access-date=April 12, 2009 | archive-date=January 9, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109142316/https://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/13/41255942.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> [[José Luis Soberanes]], president of the [[National Human Rights Commission (Mexico)|National Human Rights Commission]], condemned the repressing policy implemented by the [[Mexican government]] against illegal immigrants who cross the country's southern border.<ref>{{cite web|language=es |author=Jorge Ramos; Ricardo Gómez |title=Denuncia CNDH política represora contra migrantes |date=October 23, 2008 |work=El Universal |url=http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/551568.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912125621/http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/551568.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 12, 2012 |access-date=April 12, 2009}}</ref> [[Mexican President|President]] [[Felipe Calderón|Calderón]] modified the "General Law on Population" to derogate some penalties against immigrants like jail time, instead imposing fines of up to US$500 on illegal immigrants.<ref>{{cite news | title=México no encarcelará a ilegales | date=July 22, 2008 | work=BBC News | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7519000/7519251.stm | access-date=April 12, 2009 | language=es | archive-date=June 5, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605052428/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7519000/7519251.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>