Mexican Business Leaders Call for Reforms to Address Migrant Employment as Trump's Mass Deportations Loom

The upcoming administration's foreign policy towards Latin America figures to hinge largely on the region's disposition to take back deportees, as mass deportations are poised to be the backbone of Trump's immigration policy. In fact, the President-elect has already revealed that he plans to use tariffs as a diplomatic tool to force other countries' hands.

"If they don't take them back, we won't do business with those countries, and we will tariff those countries very substantially," Trump told Time magazine in his lengthy interview in the issue in which he was named "Person of the Year."

The Mexican government stands to be one of the most affected by Trump's proposed policies and recently-elect president Claudia Sheinbaum has already responded with a strong stance, claiming in a press conference in early December that Mexico "negotiates as equals" and labeling Trump's tariff threats as a form of "subordination."

The two countries' back and forth may just be getting started, yet business leaders in the border city of Juarez are also expressing concerns about the impact of deportations, as they say Mexico is simply not ready to employ the amount of foreign nationals expelled from the U.S., mainly because of outdated labor and immigration laws, as Border Report explains.

"We are bracing for a situation in which Trump comes in with a hard line on immigration, and we are not prepared to cope with mass deportations," said Jose Andres Quevedo, vice president of the Juarez Chamber of Commerce. "It's not just the migrant getting a work permit, it is the business needing permits to employ foreigners. It is a long process involving two to three trips to a government office," Quevedo added.

Quevedo warned that many migrants passing through Juarez linger for extended periods or end up on its streets after removal from the U.S., creating social and economic challenges for the community.

The informal economy remains a primary option for migrants, who often work as street vendors, market laborers, or odd-job workers in exchange for basic necessities but this leaves them exposed to exploitation and human rights abuses.

Quevedo and Chamber President Elizabeth Villalobos emphasized that easing legal barriers to employment would allow migrants to support themselves while reducing their vulnerability to exploitation. However, they noted that current bureaucratic processes for securing work permits are lengthy and cumbersome, discouraging businesses from hiring foreign workers. Employers are further restricted by regulations limiting foreign nationals to 10% of their workforce.

As Veronica Cardenas, a former ICE attorney turned immigration attorney and founder of non-citizen empowering platform Humanigration, explained to the Latin Times:

"By enabling migrants to participate in the formal economy, Mexico not only helps stabilize its own economy but also creates a model for smarter, long-term solutions. The U.S. should follow suit, working on comprehensive immigration reform instead of clinging to the unrealistic notion that mass deportations can solve a problem of this scale."

Since 2013, Mexico has granted refugee status to 149,715 individuals, but millions more have passed through the country or been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years.