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This town was built on migrants’ cash. Now it fears Trump’s deportations. | President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan could upend life in Mexican villages that depend on remittances from relatives in the United States.
The Washington Post ^ | January 5, 2025 6:30 a.m. EST | Mary Beth Sheridan

Posted on 01/05/2025 1:09:08 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

FRANCISCO VILLA, Mexico — Over the past 30 years, this corn-growing hamlet in central Mexico emptied out. Around half the 3,000 residents moved to the United States. As the migrants went north, the dollars flowed south.

They were construction workers and gardeners, cooks and nannies. They became the saviors of this village of tiny adobe homes. They helped establish the town’s first high school. Their donations paved the dirt streets. They bought computers for the classrooms. “The kids had no idea what they were,” recalled one of the town’s migrant benefactors, Rubén Chávez.

Now, a current of fear is running through a village tethered to Illinois, California and Oregon by the flow of remittances. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history” — taking aim at more than 11 million people living illegally in the United States. Nearly half are Mexican.

Trump “is coming in with full force,” Chávez told a meeting in the village hall on a recent afternoon. He looked around at men he’d grown up with, suntanned workers in baseball caps, who’d returned from the United States for the holidays. Many were now legal U.S. residents. But their neighbors and cousins weren’t. “What will we do?” he asked. “How can we react as a community?”

Trump built his campaign on restricting immigration, arguing that the border was out of control. Many Americans agreed. After all, illegal crossings shot to record levels under President Joe Biden, averaging 2 million a year in his first three years in office, before falling dramatically. Even big cities felt overwhelmed.

But over decades, an entire ecosystem has developed around irregular migrants from Mexico and other countries. They’ve not only become critical to sectors of the...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: aliens; mexico; ohnoes; remittances
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To: All

Oh go fix your country.


21 posted on 01/05/2025 1:21:55 PM PST by mmichaels1970 ( )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Many similar stories from all outlets?

Gee could it be the journ-o-lists got their marching orders?


22 posted on 01/05/2025 1:28:12 PM PST by vmpolesov
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To: Dawgreg
The answer for all of these s-hole countries is to become economically productive. Not being a cancer on countries like the US.
23 posted on 01/05/2025 1:32:09 PM PST by fhayek
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Imagine arguing that America needs to suffer so little towns in Mexico can thrive. Perhaps the Washington Post should ask Mexico why it doesn’t do more to help its people.


24 posted on 01/05/2025 1:32:18 PM PST by liberalh8ter ( This tagline has taken the month off to attend the inauguration.)
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To: Dawgreg
...Well, perhaps Mexico best find a way for ALL it’s citizens to make a living wage...

Mexico's Constitution is explicitly Socialist. It's going to stay a dump for the foreseeable future.

25 posted on 01/05/2025 1:33:28 PM PST by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Should be boom times ahead for that town as all those hardworking natives return and set about rejuvenating it.
Not to mention that their families and friends must have missed them terribly all these years.
26 posted on 01/05/2025 1:33:38 PM PST by fluorescence
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Bye.


27 posted on 01/05/2025 1:33:40 PM PST by toddausauras
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To: mmichaels1970

Exactly. They can take their newfound skills and initiative back to their home country and put it to good use there.


28 posted on 01/05/2025 1:37:24 PM PST by Blurb2350 (posted from my 1500-watt blow dryer)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If legal immigrants want to send money back to Mexico, they can. What’s stopping them? Illegal aliens do not have the right to work or live here. Apply for a work visa; if we get rid of all the illegals, there should be work visas available when the dust settles.


29 posted on 01/05/2025 1:43:57 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Any immigration package should include a 70% tax on remittances. To start.


30 posted on 01/05/2025 1:44:07 PM PST by nonliberal (Russia is not my enemy.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Parasites hardest hit.


31 posted on 01/05/2025 1:46:29 PM PST by wildcard_redneck
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To: BipolarBob
We Built This City It's Our S**hole

We built this city
We built this city on public dole
Built this city
Like Trump had said it’s our s***hole

Say you don't know me
Or recognize my face
Say you don’t care who is flown
In from an Air Force Base
Knee deep in the river
Climb the border fence
Too Many aliens
Filling up the tents

Hear the Mariachi
Listen to the radio, don't you remember?
We built this city
We built this city it’s our s**hole

We built this city
We built this city on public dole
Built this city
Like Trump had said it’s our s***hole

32 posted on 01/05/2025 1:48:00 PM PST by rlmorel ("A people that elect corrupt politicians are not victims...but accomplices." George Orwell)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Deport them all, by any means possible. But, before and while that’s happening, there needs to be a 25% fee attached to each remittance sent to any location outside the US, States and Territories.


33 posted on 01/05/2025 1:48:33 PM PST by BlueLancer (Orchides Forum Trahite - Cordes Et Mentes Veniant)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Just be ready for tons of these sob stories from the leftist press.


34 posted on 01/05/2025 1:50:21 PM PST by Frank_Symptoms
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I SAID YEARS GO THAT TRUMP SHOULD RAID WESTERN UNION & STOP THIS PRACTICE.


35 posted on 01/05/2025 1:55:58 PM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: BipolarBob

We built this city with Gringo cash...


36 posted on 01/05/2025 1:58:31 PM PST by HombreSecreto (The life of a repo man is always intense)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They’ll have to find new sources of income. Perhaps this time they’ll find legal sources.


37 posted on 01/05/2025 2:05:23 PM PST by Savage Beast (There's a Light over the Whole World. I just want everybody to be happy, healthy and well. --DJT)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They were the saviors of that town with money they stole from the American economy, including the money they took from the American government.


38 posted on 01/05/2025 2:10:41 PM PST by TalBlack (Time to use the Law and the Power. Good luck Mr. President.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Gee, thats just too bad parasites


39 posted on 01/05/2025 2:13:09 PM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yeah, so?


40 posted on 01/05/2025 2:15:21 PM PST by OKSooner (Always remember to say "After the fair trial".)
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