Mexican Firefighters 'Invade' California. We're Blessed To Have Them.

on Jan 14, 2025

SAN DIEGO -- Hyperbolic conservatives have long claimed that Mexico is staging an "invasion" of the United States.

For more than three decades, I've mocked these fools for their ignorance. But now I stand corrected. It's really happening. The Mexicans are actually invading, and they're starting by reclaiming the stolen parcel of land known as "California."

The first contingent of Mexican forces arrived recently in the Golden State. They mean business, and their intention is to declare war -- not on Americans, but on the hellish Los Angeles fires.

Mexico has sent the bomberos! More than 70 Mexican firefighters recently arrived on the scene to lend a hand to the brave and overworked firefighters from Los Angeles County who have been battling a monster. The Los Angeles fires are the kind of thing you usually only see in nightmares. In one week, the blazes have killed at least 24 people, scorched more than 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 structures including homes and businesses.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is the perfect leader for this moment. An environmental engineer who studied in California while pursuing her Ph.D., she immediately understood the seriousness of the situation. The fact that Sheinbaum was so quick to send the Mexican firefighters, along with disaster relief workers to assist local emergency workers, shows that she is the real deal. She has only been in office since October, and already she has proven herself to be a strong and decisive leader.

As someone who has studied and written about U.S.-Mexico relations for many years, it's refreshing to see such an act of solidarity. This has not always been the case with our neighbors to the south.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-Mexican President Vicente Fox dithered for more than a week as members of his cabinet argued about whether Mexico should aid the United States, and what form that aid should take. Eventually, Fox tepidly offered Mexico's support. But by then, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had already stepped in and assumed the role of America's best friend in our hour of need.

Now, California is in need. And this time, Mexico is moving swiftly to come to our aid. The timing is a bit bizarre. Polls show that a majority of Americans want to get rid of immigrants, and Mexicans make up the largest percentage of those who come to the United States. And Trump is promising mass deportations of undocumented immigrants -- a massive undertaking which will devastate the U.S. economy by removing millions of hardworking Mexicans who do dirty and dangerous jobs that entitled Americans consider beneath them.

And against that backdrop, California is burning and here we are importing more Mexicans to help do an enormous job that American firefighters can't do all on their own.

Canada and other countries are following Mexico's lead and sending firefighters of their own.

It's curious that some of those who follow me on social media are furious at me for announcing the arrival of the bomberos. Apparently, I've hurt their feelings by messing up their preferred narrative of Mexico as evil predator who takes from the United States.

A white man -- that is, a card-carrying member of America's new oppressed minority -- scrawled on my Facebook page that I was "an anti-American, Mexican supremacist."

My friends in Mexico will get a laugh out of that one. They probably see me as a watered-down pocho (a fully assimilated Mexican American) who speaks Spanish poorly. In the supermarket, I'm that jar of mild salsa that tastes like ketchup with a slight twang.

Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom welcomed the Mexican firefighters.

"Emergencies have no borders," Newsom said. "We are deeply grateful to our neighbors in Mexico for their unwavering support during one of our greatest times of need. Thank you to President Claudia Sheinbaum for lending the best of the best."

That reminds me. Here's a sentence I expect to write often in the next four years: Donald Trump was wrong.

Trump exemplifies the modern American ethos -- where people feel passionately about issues they don't understand.

Trump's blindspot is Mexico. When he declared his first bid for the White House in June 2015, the Republican told supporters: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best."

Last week, Mexico did send their best -- to California. And we're honored, and so glad to welcome them.

Gracias, amigos.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.