The Wall That Mexico Built: How America Outsourced Its Border Security

Talks on Tuesdays: Real lectures in your favourite venues. 45-mins + Q&A with Jaime Padilla Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together - at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner. This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about. Event Schedule: 6pm Arrival & Doors Open 7pm Lecture Starts 7.45pm Q&A 8pm Talk Concludes 8.30pm Event Closes. *Please arrive close to 6pm A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night - pay as you go. Your Topic: The Wall That Mexico Built: How America Outsourced Its Border Security When Donald Trump promised to build a wall along the US–Mexico border, another wall was quietly taking shape: Mexico's own southern border. How did a country known for sending millions of migrants to the United States become one of Washington's most important immigration enforcers? Drawing on original PhD research, this talk explores the politics of migration, from the recruitment of Mexican workers and the massacre of 72 migrants in San Fernando to Trump's 2019 tariff threat. It reveals how political power shapes borders, turns migration into a crisis and transforms the lives of those caught in between. What can Mexico's experience teach us about Europe and Australia? Your Speaker: Jaime Padilla Dr Jaime Padilla is a political scientist and researcher specialising in public policy, migration and governance. He holds a PhD in Arts and Social Sciences (Political Science) from the University of Sydney, where his doctoral research examined the securitisation of Mexico's southern border and the influence of US immigration policy on Mexican governance. With over ten years of international experience, he has worked in government, research and higher education in Mexico and Australia. He currently teaches at UNSW Centre of Social Impact.