HISTORY LESSON

Mexico’s Top Cop Says He Worked as Undocumented Migrant in U.S.

He said he illegally crossed the border to wash dishes and cars.

Mexico’s top police official says he was an undocumented worker in the U.S.—twice. The newspaper La Jornada reported that Public Security Minister Alfonso Durazo made the disclosure to a group of business leaders—which was later confirmed by his press office, according to Bloomberg News. Durazo told the group that he plans to weed out people with criminal records or fugitives from border-bound migrant caravans. But he also reminded them that he was once a migrant, illegally crossing to work as a dishwasher and a car washer to make a living. Bloomberg noted that Durazo’s past is not unusual. But, it noted, “it shows how pervasive such migration has been in recent decades [and] it may be one of the starkest reality checks for U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand that caravans be stopped altogether or he’ll close the border and stop aid.”