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Alfredo Corchado

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62
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2017-06-01
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2017-06-01
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  1. “I've been lucky that I've had a long time companion who's also a journalist. And like me also born in Mexico City and from the United States. But I think when we talk about it, we always talk about... Trying to reconnect The And maybe by doing that, you also try to reconnect your readers, your viewers to both sides. Obviously, I think we've done a lousy job because of the way Mexico is portrayed these days. But I think all it does is it makes me want to go back and tell these stories and maybe listen a little closer.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I believe in journalism. I mean, I really Believe in journalism, but I also believe in my home country. And I think Especially the last year being away from Mexico. You see, I see my homeland from a different lens. And sometimes, um, Someone who belongs to two countries. I mean, I have two homelands. Sometimes I feel that that's really why I like the border because you really don't have to choose anymore. You're there But sometimes when I go to Mexico, I even feel there's a more hopeful feeling in spite of all the troubles that we've talked about A sense of hope that sometimes I feel like we're losing in this country. And I want to be able to tell those stories. I don't know that I will take the same chances I took. But I think there's so many other stories that I can also report on.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I woke up on November the 9th and I thought I'm going back to journalism. I hadn't really felt that sense of fear until Javier was killed. I think that shadow of my own myth that if you have protection, there's a maybe leave you alone. I still have my place in Mexico City. I still plan to report out of Mexico City. And some reporting or much of my reporting also from the US-Mexico border. I would be lying to you if I told you I don't think about that and that there's not a part of me that is Feels a sense of trepidation. A lot of these memories have come back, that same debate is back. Is this worth it? Do I go back? Do I even try to tell the story?”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “I got an Emen Fellowship in 2009. And since then, I mean, I've been helpful in trying to get two other people at the foundation. But talking to my colleagues the last week, I mean, that sense of... Protection is gone. And again, there's no real public outcry. There's no public outcry in Mexico among the citizens, among residents. There's no real outcry in the United States. And I would say these are our neighbors, and if people really do care about a democratic Mexico, you can't have a democracy without a press trying to hold you accountable”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “It was incredibly important, and we're hoping that this would become the start of a new trend to identify key reporters, get them to the Neeman Fellowship at Harvard or other places in the United States.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “This was a This was stag We've lost 106, 107. It's hard to keep up with the numbers because that was another one who's gone missing this week, presumed dead. So numbers may climb up to 107. This is 107 people kill since the year 2000. And these are the conservative figures that are provided by the committee to protect journalists. Other agencies have numbers much higher. Javier Was, I think, a turning point for many Mexican journalists who believed that if you were prominent enough Award winning journalists recognized from both sides of the border that gave you a sense of protection. I remember back in 2010 or so, community protect journalists was very, they were very committed to try to find key journalists in Mexico, to try to bestow recognition, protect them, and so forth. And at the time many correspondents felt that CPJ recognizing”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “You will see Andres Manuel Lopez Ovrador's numbers just climb and making it very possible that this may be his election, this may be his victory.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “And both sides are getting just a screw. But I think it's important to look at the NAFTA negotiations. I mean, what I'm looking at as a reporter is, I think they start in August or sometime this year. That will determine, I think, who the candidate becomes for the preyeto successor. That, I think, will determine as to who becomes the next president of Mexico. Will be looking at that very closely”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “I think the first thing to understand is that NAFTA was not the panacea that Americans think it was. I mean, Americans in Ohio, Americans in Michigan, Pennsylvania who thinks... We were ripped off. I mean, Mexicans today are still earning $5,000, $6,000, $7 a day. They're not if anyone”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “I talked to one cartel person a while back, and I said, what happens if the Americans decide tomorrow to legalize everything? And he said, you know, we'll probably go on vacation. Probably go to the beach and enjoy some of our billions for a little while. But I wouldn't put it past them that at some point they're going to say, you know what, Gaietas Maria's cookies, very popular in Mexico, are contributing to American obesity. And we're going to ban them. So once they do that, we're back at work. Anything that's banned in the U.S., anything that becomes illegal, it's business for us because we operate in a system where the institutions are so weak. We can basically push things around however you want. So again, it's going back to this whole sense of core responsibility.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “And you begin to see more of the high end Mexicans who are buying stuff from the US because they think the US stuff is much more quality. And this is a real affront to some of the Mexican cartels who are also committed to trying to upgrade their quality. So, I mean, the impact goes both ways.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “There was a term that we heard a lot about during the Obama administration, which is co-responsibility. I mean, Mexico cannot do this alone. There has to be the demand side has to be addressed. On the Mexican side, I think if there's one thing that gets me hope is a sense at People are also kind of looking, taking a look, a deep look at themselves in the mirror. Mexicans are and saying, wait a minute, there's so much corruption within their own government. And we're part of the problem. But until the United States deals with the demand, it doesn't matter what we do. It's such a powerful force. And yet, you know, there's kind of a funny story. Colorado started legalizing. I mean, they legalized Washington. I think some other states look at it.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “And that was something that you began to see a difference in some communities where people started really learning how to hold the government accountable. Not in the American way. I mean, I think it's still a democracy very much in diapers. But you began to see a real change. And I think that's long term, that's Mexico's best hope is that communities really learn to become civil society communities, learning to judicial reform, trusting police or working with police. The sense today And I've talked to people who are close to cartels. I don't think America really cares that much anymore. And on a society level, the question as to what will the Trump administration do. Will they continue supporting these communities or is it over? On the cartel side, it's”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “I think we've seen the face where during the George W. Bush period, you had the Media Initiative, which was much more, it was a policy that was much more oriented towards helping Mexico via military help. I think the last few years of the Obama administration still under the Mediterranean, the focus was much more on building the society, building communities, building civil societies.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “That's what I believe. That's what I believe. I mean, there are people. Friends of mine, colleagues of mine who may disagree with me. But I believe that cartels are afraid of the consequences. I mean, we're talking about a $30, $40 billion industry. You bring too much noise, you bring the attention of the U.S. government. It's not good for business. Having said that, I think the cartels in recent years have changed dramatically. Where when I started covering them, there were maybe four or five major cartels in Mexico. These days there are more than 100 criminal groups And I say that because I don't know that the younger generation understands the consequences. I don't know that they're thinking as their elders were at one point.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Careful to make sure that my passport is sticking out, the US passport, that the credentials are hanging over me. The congressional, the State Department, my own newspaper, make it clear to people that I'm an American citizen. When I come into a community, I make it a point to go see the mayor, to see the police chief, and say, I'm here for the Dallas More News and I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Get the message out.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “He functioned very, very Important you bring up Afghanistan and Syria and other Somalia because there's no real declare. Conflict in Mexico. And I think in many ways that makes it even that much more dangerous. Because you don't really know. A situation where you don't know who to trust. You don't know who to talk to. I have to make it clear that, yes, I was born in Durango. Yes, I'm Mexican. Yes, people may see me, and there's an expression in Mexico. You may see the cactus on my forehead, and that gives me away as a short Mexican. But as I report in some of these communities, I'm always...”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “35 members deserted the Mexican military and ended up becoming their own separate cartel. But they set a whole new standard in Mexico through fear, through killing a mass number of people, through hanging people from bridges, public bridges, be handing them sending to newspapers, sending to offices the heads of rivals and so forth and saying, you're next. And obviously. Something like 180,000 people were killed during this period. journalists were also on the line.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “And it used to be more money, but I think what happened in the 2000s and the current phase they were living is really fear. It used to be the bullet or the bribe. Nowadays, they don't even make you that kind of offer. It's the bullet. There was a cartel, a paramilitary group that I think changed the whole dynamics in Mexico, a group called Asetas. Some members were trained by U.S. special forces to take on the cartels. They go back. The cartels basically bring them in with money and say, you know, you're out to get us, but we're going to pay you money to work for us.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “I look back and I think part of the problem. That I had I was so naive about how these cartels work, how they function. Again, I hadn't really paid that much attention, but soon enough you're learning that in communities, in very key communities, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border. The mayor's office is infiltrated by cartels. The local police department, the state police, the journalism office or newsrooms are infiltrated. Just about every key organization is infiltrated by cartels. The state police takes, they work for one Bible cartel. The local police works for the other Bible cartel. And so you have this madness.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “And you began to follow, you know, people talk about follow the money. I mean, we're basically following a trail of bodies throughout the country and how certain groups have become so emboldened that they were showing videos of beheadings and so forth. And really what that meant for a young country with a flesh-ling democracy. And that's why the title. You fall into the darkness of a country”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Immigration, et cetera. But at some point, I think with the decline of staffs, decreasing staffs, and then Mexico, I think when Mexico became the first opposition government comes in in the year 2000, a very centralized system becomes decentralized. The power leaves Mexico City and suddenly the power is going to all these states. And the Narcos, who there's a lot of complicity, there's a lot of corruption within the agencies, within the government itself, they become wild boys. I mean, things really get out of hand. And as a reporter, you become a crime reporter. And so it was my job all of a sudden to shift my focus from other issues, from the Bacinta Fox George W. Bush relationship immigration. To solely looking at why Mexico was really falling apart.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Mini is very dangerous. And meaning he also felt that, yes, I may be American because I was now an American citizen, but I'm still very much a Mexican. I wouldn't have the same protection that an American journalist would have. It didn't really faze me because I thought I'm not interested in these stories. I'm more interested in these.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Yeah, we moved from California to El Paso. But when we found out that this man had knew our schedules, my siblings and said, look, if anyone ever finds out, you know, they will pay the price. And we thought, okay, we got to get out of here. So my father blocked the deal, said no to the deal. But he learned that he said, you know, they don't understand the word forgiveness. Do not cover these stories. And again, we had a large enough.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “My parents had a small little restaurant in Salt El Paso Street two, three blocks from the border, one of our favorite clients, we later learned was a member of the drug traffickers who was trying to launder money through our restaurant by offering to give us 30, maybe $100,000 to build other small little restaurants. And we thought we were coming from California. We didn't really understand the dynamic.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “I think at one point every reporter in Mexico or every correspondent in Mexico became a crime reporter. Because of the drug war And I went there with, first of all, I promised my parents when I left, they were very much against me going back to Mexico. They thought, you know, we made so much of a sacrifice. Don't want you to go back And they knew I was determined, but they said, promise me, promise us that you will never cover drug traffick Because they don't understand the word forgiveness.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “It's a totally different world. I mean, we're looking at Talismoy News went from a 12 person staff to zero today. I'm planning to go back to summer and cover Mexico, cover the border. But it's really the major papers that have small bureaus, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times. I mean, back in the day, I think there were four or five major Texas papers, papers from Arizona, the Southwest. And that has really, I think, impacted the way Americans understand Mexico today or do not understand Mexico today. I mean, there's just not that much news that reaches them.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Philadelphia ended up going to Dallas, the Dallas Bureau, the Wall Street Journal. But again, my dream was to go to Mexico. The Dallas Point News 1994 ended up becoming their correspondent. This was, I think, an exciting time of journalism. I mean, we ended up having the largest bureau of any American newspaper there. Had 12 people, including a TV crew, We were covering all angles of Mexico. We had bureaus in Monterey, we had bureaus in Colombia, even Havana. Other than the Chicago Tribune, it was the Dallas Morris and the Chicago Tribune with bureaus in Havana. I mean, these were the great days of journalism. And I was covering, I was more involved as covering immigration issues, the democratic process in Mexico and US policy to Latin America. Those were the things I was doing at the time.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Those years, I think you look back and you realize that was the key. Because it also, I think it took me away from the border, took me away from Mexico and to live in a place like Philadelphia, I formed lifelong friendships. But also it really taught you, do you really want to do this? Is this what you want to do?”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “He said, I don't think you're ready yet for the Wall Street Journal, but I'd like to keep in touch with you. And I'd like to see your clips and so forth. But the message from Frank was very simple. America's changing. We need people like you to tell these stories. And it was a real conflict inside of me because it's like... Do I become a coda? Or do you really like me for my promise? So I ended up going to Philadelphia two years later and working in the bureau and covering black and deck or covering Campbell's soup. Nothing had to do with Mexico. But it was very important that I think Frank took me through really the beginnings and taught me the fundamentals of being a journalist.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “I had a first internship at the El Paso Hero Post, an afternoon paper that doesn't exist anymore. I did a small internship at the Ogden Standard Examiner in Ogden, Utah. But the real break really began with a man named Frank Allen. Frank Allen was the bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal in Philadelphia And I met him at a National Association of Hispanic Journalist Convention. This is back in the late 80s, and I think newspapers were feeling that they had to become much more diverse. And Frank really believed in that, in diversity. And he would go to all these conventions, he would scout people and so forth. And he looked at me. I mean, jeans and bold shoes and carry my family's photo albums with all my clips in the middle. And he came out and talked to me.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Of course, I took it. I ended up working at the El Paso Community College newspaper, the student newspaper, more to get credit. But also you had this big movement on the Mexican side of the border. I mean, I'm living in El Paso and Claquet has become the laboratory for change proposed. So, you can imagine yourself as a reporter covering student issues, and then in the afternoon, evenings, you're covering these massive demonstrations. And I always tell people, I mean, That's when You learn by journalism and you become addicted to journalism and you realize many years later that there's no cure for it.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Or in Baiti, et cetera. And you said, why don't we do an aptitude test? And maybe we'll find out something more about you. And he came back and he says, you know, you're curious about the world. You're curious about events. You're curious about this or that. Maybe you should think about being a diplomat. Or maybe a foreign correspondent and I said, what is that? He says, they will base you anywhere in the world. And I said, including Mexico. He goes, yes. That just kind of came together.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “Did I actually, and I said, my mother's doing this for us, she believes I need an education. I mean, maybe you should come with me to El Paso or I'll come back to California with the degree. She didn't buy that. But you went I went to El Paso and I went to El Paso Community College to try to get my GED and try to get my foot in the door. One of the first things that the counselor asked me was, you know, what do you want to do? I said, what do you mean? He says, What's your study plan? No idea, and I said I want to be a hairdresser. And he looked at me and he said, That's all you got. He said, Your parents made this big sacrifice for you. And I said, Have you seen the movie Shampoo”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “It was a very painful decision. But it was love or car, love or car. I was dating the rancho's daughter at the time. And I kept thinking Level Car, and I picked a car. Ended up in El Paso, went to community college.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “We're set in Fresno, California And I told my mom, I said, I'm not going back to school. And she says, Why not? I said, See that car over there in front of a car? I said, that's my dream. I want that car. And right away, she thought, Here's the deal You promised me three things A, you will leave California. Because most Mexican Americans that we saw in the Central Valley, Tomaquin Valley were working in the fields, moved to El Paso, where we saw some Mexican Americans wearing ties. And she thought that we needed role models. B promised to get an education. And see, promise me you won't get married until you get an education. You'll get that card. We'll give you the down payment. We'll give you the first few payments and then you're on your own. For a week, I went back and forth”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “My dream at the time was to go back to the fields. Most of the Mexican American kids were dropping out of school or graduating. They were not going to Berkeley. They weren't going to UCLA, Stanford. They were ending up back in the fields. And I thought, well, what's the point? Why don't I just stay in the fields and maybe by the time they drop out, I will be their supervisor. I will be the rancher or something or the labor contractor or something. But my mother... Persisted. I'm the oldest of nine and felt that I needed to set the example for the rest of my siblings. Finally, bribed me with the car and said, you know, I told him I was sitting.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “And they came up to me and started asking me questions. I think one of the first questions asked me was you're not 15, are you? And I said, no, I'm 13. My mother was working beside me. They did the interview. They left. And my mother was just horrified. Even though we had green cards, she thought, you lied, we lied. We're going to get deported. But for me, it was this incredible experience that someone actually cared enough to ask me what I thought about this or that. I mean, someone wanted to give me a voice. And that's something I carry on. I dropped out in high school.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “She needed the money, and it was also at summertime, and that's how we bought our supplies for the school and our new clothes for the fall. We work the summers with my parents. But again, because my mother was a member of the Cesar Chavez, they were always very careful not to break any of Cesar Chavez's rules at the time. So I'm out in the fields. These guys, reporters, are looking for a story on the conditions of farm workers. What's it like being a kid working in the fields? What's it like not having a toilet, not having clean drinking water, not having a break to eat, et cetera? I think reporters are smart. At least their perception and they looked at me and said, this kid is not 15.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Definitely. I mean, that really did change my life in many ways. At the time, California had a rule that you have to be 15 to be out in the fields. And I was 13. My mother would put on the big hat and large clothes to try to make me look older.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “People say that he was intimidated by Trump, that somehow Trump, when he got to Los Pinos, as many Mexican colonists will say, he wimped out. He didn't do his job and it was incredibly embarrassing for the population, not just the Mexicans there, but also Mexicans in the United States. And you start seeing his numbers just dip. They did go up a little more after he said no to the White House and visiting the White House in January.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Disasters, and it's reflected in the poll numbers. I mean, he at one point he went down to 12%. I think the numbers, the last couple of days, his disapproval rating is something close to 80% in the country. He had an opportunity. I mean, I think at the time when he invited Donald Trump to Mexico, the feeling was he has really taken a risk. But maybe he's going to take Trump to Los Pinos, the presidential palace, and just scold him or say something to defend the rights of Mexicans in front of a world audience. None of that happened. It became like a Twitter war where Ben Aletto said, yes, I did tell him that in private.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Something that he was in the past. And I was saying, yes, NAFTA has to be fixed and we have to do certain things to try to make it better for the working class. But you're right. I mean, he lost twice. There's a lot of attention at state elections that happen in a couple of weeks. I think if his party wins, he is definitely the guy who people will be watching. But we're still a year away. And the other candidate, one of them is the former president Caleron's wife, who is also a strong candidate. And she's more the conservative face. But I think a lot will depend on what happens in the next few months with the wall, the NAFTA negotiations, and again, this whole mass deportation.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Pretty realistic. I think it's his race to lose at this point. Although it's also interesting how he has changed his rhetoric to some degree. He is now much more of a conciliatory towards the business community. Trying to make himself a plausible leader. Even to the point where he's not blatantly anti-NAFTA.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “We want to wait and see if these mass deportations do take place. It was interesting to see places like in some of these places in Mexico that have large expatriate communities where it see Americans who have taken to the streets and said, you know, we are also anti Donald Trump. Don't take this out on us. We're with you. And I think that has helped contain the nationalism fervor for now.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “That's a great question. And that's something Mexico's kind of headed into, not kind of, but they're headed into the election, presidential election in about a year. Mexico historically has been an anti US nationalistic country. I think that's one of the reasons why the ruling party was in power for 71 years. They knew when to whip that into a frenzy, into action. With NAFTA in 1994, I mean, I think Mexicans dare to dream that this day could be different. This could be a different relationship. You saw, we've seen less nationalism, less anti-American, that's changing. You're beginning to see that in the presidential campaigns where people are beginning to talk about the anti-US to try to gain some points, et cetera. What was interesting is that. There is also a sense of”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “Think now I'm seeing a change also where yes, there is that very, very strong sense of betrayal, a sense that for the last 30 years or so economic integration, I think people felt like we were changing. You're really becoming true neighbors. In a sense. But people are really taking a second look and saying. This is really our country. We have children here who are citizens. We have property here. We have homes here. I don't think that that decision to leave would be that easy. And I think the people are still kind of waiting to see whether some of these promises will materialize, the mass deportations, the building of the wall, et cetera. So there is, I think, a pause, if you will, to more of a wait and see attitude.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “It's a betrayal. I think immediately after the election, November the 8th, heard a lot of stories about people planning to go back. There was almost a sense of maybe Trump's Scenario that there would be mass deportation or self deportations would come true. I mean, I went back to Mexico and saw a lot of people that were trying to hurry up to finish building those houses. I mean, in Mexico, UCA's houses have nostalgia. The immigrant worker who lives in the U.S. and sends money to build the home where someday he will return. And yet that someday never comes. So I think between, I would say November, January, February, there was a sense of people going back, people who felt I'm not going to put my kid through this. My kid was a US-born citizen, I'm not going to take the risk of being deported and then leaving my kid behind.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “And I mean, you bring up the issue of undocumented workers and I guess illegal immigration. In the mid-60s, when there is reforms for the immigration law, there was never really anything to stop the demand for workers. I mean, I remember I think the debate that we're having today about illegal immigration goes back to all those years ago when yes, the Barcetto program ended. And it was like it's over now. But yet the demand for workers never stopped. I mean, I talked about Durango earlier. Half my town ended up moving to where we were because people had a need for them because the demand never really waned. And those numbers just kept growing and growing and growing to the point that today we're talking about something like 11 million undocumented workers.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “Of pull this all together because they were translating the words into Spanish. And she said, Just kind of make the sign of listen. And we listen to those words and she said This is why we came here. This is why we make the sacrifice, and this is what you have to take away from this. And I mean that was the moment when you knew what the meaning of being an immigrant was or what you were here for. You had to dream and you had to believe in that. And that's why not.”

    2017-06-01 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 152 - Alfredo Corchado · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source