In the afternoon of December 9, 2021, in my third month as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, I received an urgent message from Mexico’s foreign affairs minister. That morning, there had been a terrible accident in southern Mexico involving migrants being smuggled north, one that required the urgent attention of Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States.
The foreign minister told me that in the southern Mexican city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, about 140 miles from the nearest Mexico-Guatemala border crossing, a tractor-trailer had crashed while carrying more than 160 Guatemalan migrants. I would soon learn that 56 people had died in the crash and over 100 were seriously injured. Reportedly, the smugglers, known as “coyotes,” had charged the migrants around $15,000 each to stuff them into trailers like cattle for days on end to transport them across Mexico to the United States.
A few days later, I flew to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and headed straight to the hospital. Two patients in the corner of the ICU caught my eye: a young mother who suffered severe trauma to the entire side of her head and her toddler son, who was miraculously unharmed. Their names (which I’ve changed here to protect them) were Vanessa and Damián.
I spoke softly with Vanessa at her bedside, learning that she and Damián were trying to get to Wisconsin, where her husband had been working on a dairy farm. Vanessa had not seen him since he had left Guatemala for the United States, and Damián had never met his father. I couldn’t imagine the pain and fear this young woman and her son had felt in that packed trailer, somehow surviving the pandemonium of blood, death, and confusion to end up in the ICU.
Vanessa thanked me for checking on her, adding that she had faith she would soon be reunited with her husband. “Vanessa,” I said, “the immigration system we have in America is broken. Very broken. My hope is that one day, we’ll be able to fix it. This shouldn’t have to happen.” I wanted to beg her not to try again—it was too dangerous.
This incident, and countless other tragedies like it, is what inaction looks like. And for decades, both American political parties have been responsible for it. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, seized on the border as a political weapon, exploiting fear of migrants to win elections. For them, a broken border is good politics. Democrats, on the other hand, have lacked the leadership and political power to deliver solutions, effectively ceding the issue to their political rivals. Both parties have committed political malpractice, and it’s easy to understand why. The 2000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border has become the third rail of American politics. Touch it, and it can kill your political career.
As U.S. ambassador, I urgently and passionately made the argument to people in the White House and the halls of Congress that we needed to fix our border and find durable solutions. I warned Democrats that if we did not address this, it would contribute to defeat in the November 2024 elections. I’m sorry to say I was correct.
Trump was right that the border was broken and needed to be fixed. But his plan of enforcement, tearing families apart, terrorizing communities with mass ICE raids, and pitting nations against nations is not the solution. Just last week in Houston, an ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the owner of a construction business, as he drove his crew to a job site, though he was not the target of the ICE operation. A 52-year-old father of three U.S. citizens, Mr. Araujo had lived here for more than three decades. His killing has drawn protests, calls for an independent investigation, and an announcement from Mexico that it will pursue legal action, precisely the kind of rupture between neighbors we should seek to prevent.
As we speed toward the midterms in November and a presidential election just two years away, a new border and immigration plan for this country must be a top priority. I propose the creation of a New American Alliance, a North America where the borders, migration, and our nation’s deep economic and cultural ties are fixed to create an untapped opportunity rather than a manufactured crisis. It is a truer expression of who we are as Americans—people who achieve greatness when we are united and when we work together toward common goals.
Over 520 million people from all walks of life call the United States, Mexico, and Canada home. Our histories, our economies, our cultures—and yes, our crises—are inextricably linked, stretching far beyond our shared border. We must work to build the safest, most prosperous, and most opportunity-rich region in the world: one where hard work is rewarded, communities are secure, economic growth benefits ordinary people, and every child has a fair chance to succeed.
Importantly, we should not erase borders or diminish national identity. Rather, we must commit to work together where cooperation makes all three nations stronger, and to finally treat the border as the economic and democratic opportunity it can be.
I have been speaking with prospective Democratic candidates for the 2028 presidential election, and I will happily speak with any Republicans or Independents seeking solutions, because it is imperative that they transcend the dysfunctional politics that threaten our national and economic security. In my conversations, I hear encouraging things, but I also sense wariness. This is not a time for trepidation. The 2028 election is around the corner, and the issue of immigration, the U.S.-Mexico border, and how we co-exist peacefully with our neighbors will be defined by the leaders we choose and the demands we make of them. All of us—regardless of party, class, or race—must demand better.
For me, a son of the American Southwest, where my family has farmed and ranched for over 400 years, this is personal. Despite our sometimes painful history, we must fight for the promise of a better future along our borderlands. Our future, our democracy, and our economic and national security are worth the fight.