Summary
US companies exported 1.4 million tons of hazardous waste in 2022, nearly half of which went to Monterrey, Mexico.
Toxic substances from Zinc Nacional, a local recycling plant processing US steel dust, have polluted nearby homes, schools, and soil with lead, arsenic, and cadmium, exceeding US health thresholds by hundreds of times.
Experts call the waste trade “toxic colonialism,” citing Mexico’s weaker regulations and enforcement.
Residents report health issues, while the company claims compliance. Mexican authorities are investigating amid calls for stricter oversight and accountability.
You are extremely oversimplifying a very complex situation.
The Mexican government consists of self serving corrupt assholes but also loads of people who genuinely try to make the country better. Mexico was a third world nation which has grown up tremendously in the past decades, but it still has ways to go.
Could they have done more / better? Sure, of course.
Is the US government complicit in the shit show going on now in Mexico, with their policies and actions? Absofuckinglutely, and a big part too.
Just because the Mexican government could have done better doesn’t mean the US government is off the hook