President Trump’s threatened and actual deployment of military personnel at the United States/Mexico border accompanied by his vitriolic rhetoric represent a dangerous low point in the relationship between the two countries over the past century. It is of particular offense to the histories and contributions over that time of millions of Mexican-Americans, native-born and immigrant alike, including my own family. These concerns came starkly to mind recently upon my discovery in the basement of our family home of 100 year-old letters and documents of my grandfather.
Trasviñas in the New World date to the 1680s when Juan Antonio Trasviña y Retes was sent by his family to distant relatives in the New Spain province of Zacatecas. As an adult, his involvement in mining, the military, and the Catholic church took him to what is now the state of Texas in the United States and the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. He was one of 16 founders of the city of Chihuahua and mayor of another city and provided the land for the first Catholic churches in the area.
In the early 1900s, following the Mexican Revolution, my grandfather Juan Trasviña served as chief of the Protection Department in the Mexican consulate here in San Francisco. One hundred years ago this week, the May 13, 1925 San Francisco Chronicle took note of my grandfather’s actions on behalf of between 70 and 150 Mexican fishermen who were held hostage on the City of Sydney ship anchored in the bay off Sausalito. The ship, described as a “hell ship” for the dangerous and horrific conditions for these shipworkers, was to set sail for summer fishing in Alaska until an African American shipworker jumped into the bay seeking police rescue and safety. The employees had been denied wages owed to them and reimbursement for travel costs in an effort to make them pay for fines on the ship. Through his efforts, the Mexican fishermen were freed either to work on land or take employment with another Alaska-bound ship. Federal agents placed liens worth almost half a million dollars on the ship owners’ business holdings for their employment and other legal violations.
Protecting the safety and rights of its citizens abroad continues to be an important function of the consulates of Mexico and all countries. Just last week, Ana Luisa Vallejo Barba, the current consul general of Mexico based in San Francisco, briefed the San Francisco Interfaith Council on her office’s work in Hawaii and 17 counties across Northern California and described the importance of ensuring fair treatment and protection under applicable labor and other laws.
In my own work, as President Clinton’s special counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices, cooperation and consultation were vital to fulfilling a shared international interest in worker protection. Labor exploitation of foreign workers is a violation of the employees’ rights and, when left unaddressed, is a harmful subsidy to unscrupulous employers at the expense of business competitors who follow the law and American workers denied legitimate job opportunities. In the early 2000s, I led a national Latino civil rights organization during a surge of local laws singling out Latino noncitizens for harsh treatment and denial of rental or housing opportunities. Speaking out for the rights of Latinos and other immigrants and sending attorneys and investigators to fight for them throughout the country carried forth the principles of serving others that had been passed down to me from my ancestors.
Speaking out for the rights of Latinos and other immigrants and sending attorneys and investigators to fight for them throughout the country carried forth the principles of serving others that had been passed down to me from my ancestors.
My maternal grandfather, Felipe N. Puente, was also a leading voice advancing cooperation and alliance between the United States and Mexico. From the 1920s to the 1950s, he represented the National Railways of Mexico in California and was a strong advocate of trade and economic development. In Spanish, “puente” means “bridge,” and it animated his beliefs to work to strengthen the ties between the United States and Mexico. During World War II, both person-to-person and business-to-business, he was a strong public voice for Mexico’s alliance with the United States against Germany and Japan. And even though he was in his 50s, he wrote to the local draft board volunteering as a soldier in the United States armed forces!
President Trump’s policies today ignore the traditional goodwill and support that the United States and Mexico have afforded each other as strategic allies and friendly neighbors. The origins of the Southwest intertwine the two countries. Countless American industries, from agriculture to meatpacking to construction to service occupations, rely on Mexican and other immigrant labor. The border economies along San Diego and Tijuana, Nogales and Nogales, El Paso and Juarez are directly interdependent while consumers and communities throughout both countries depend on trade and products. South of the border, families and communities rely on remittances from workers in the United States.
There have always been significant disputes about oil, water, and other natural resources; trade and jobs; and immigration. These issues have been handled with binational calm, including by Republican United States’ presidents Reagan and Bush, hailing from California and Texas. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are withstanding President Trump’s supposition that he can roll over these leaders and their countries. Both have recognized that the individual interests of their countries and the United States — and the region overall — are best protected and enhanced by a return to focusing on the common interests of all.
It’s been that way for over a century, whether it was my grandfathers helping Mexican workers here and American businesses there or Americans buying Mexican products or traveling there and Mexicans starting new lives in our country. After years in public service to my own country, I continue to be inspired by the paths established by the first Trasviña who arrived 300 years ago and my grandfathers in the 20th century. Whether through education, legal advocacy, or public communication, the labor of our ancestors is the essential cause for our and future generations — fair and respectful treatment within our communities and across borders.
John Trasviña served in the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations and is the past president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).
