Mexican President Peña Nieto Declares United States 'the Other Mexico'

Forget so-called “Mexifornia.” How about the United States of Mexico? 

On Monday, Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto called on other states to “evolve” like California so the United States can be more like his home country. 

Appearing with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Jerry Brown in Los Angeles, Peña Nieto called for amnesty legislation and more open borders while blasting governors who have taken a tough stance on illegal immigration.

“This is the other Mexico,” Peña Nieto reportedly “said of the United States, which is property to an estimated 11 million Mexican immigrants,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

After President Barack Obama enacted his temporary amnesty program for illegal immigrants in 2012, the number of illegal immigrant juveniles–nearly 90% of whom are teenagers–who have been apprehended has drastically spiked. Since October of last year, close to 63,000 illegal immigrants have been detained, nearly all having been lured by the hope of getting “permisos” or amnesty. Most of those illegal immigrants are Central Americans who have traveled through Mexico, often without much resistance, to the United States. Yet, Obama may soon double down on his executive amnesty, as the White House has indicated that he may grant temporary amnesty and work permits to possibly five million more illegal immigrants. 

In California, Brown has already given illegal immigrants driver’s licenses, made California a sanctuary state, and signed the California DREAM Act. Peña Nieto thanked Brown for his generosity toward illegal immigrants and called on other governors to follow suit, chastising those who are against open borders as unethical.

“There are still states that have not evolved so much as California, that still skimp on recognition and, even worse, the rights of immigrants,” Peña Nieto said, according to the Associated Press. “Those who still believe and bet for the exclusion and discrimination or the rejection of diversity … I only have one thing to say: the future, and a very near future, will demonstrate your ethical mistake. Time will show we’re right.”

Governors across the country from Texas to Maine have expressed concerns that communities do not have the resources to absorb so many illegal immigrants. Others have expressed concerns about communicable diseases and crime that illegal immigrants can bring across the border. 

Though Peña Nieto did not offer to help those governments absorb illegal immigrants in their communities and schools, he did reportedly promise scholarships for DREAMers and, “during the ceremony, a group of students from Mexico was awarded scholarships to attend California universities including UCLA, Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach.”

According to Pew Research, a “record 33.7 million Hispanics of Mexican origin resided in the United States in 2012,” and that estimate included “11.4 million immigrants born in Mexico and 22.3 million born in the U.S. who self-identified as Hispanics of Mexican origin.” Mexicans accounted for “nearly two-thirds (64%) of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2012” and made up roughly 28% percent of all foreign-born residents in the United States.