Fear of the Different: Islam in Mexico, a National Security Issue.

In Mexico, Muslim communities are small and dispersed; their growth barely represents .07% of the total population of 127 million people (INEGI, 2020), made up mostly of converts and, to a lesser extent, of people from Muslim countries. However, Islam and Muslims are subject to surveillance and monitoring by the Mexican State and the United States, not only because of the events of September 11, 2001, in New York but also since the Zapatista rebellion of 1994 in which Hamas, attempted an alliance with the Zapatista Army through Spaniards who arrived with the alliance's mission. Why the surveillance of Muslim communities since 1994? The reason is more due to a national security scheme of the United States government that requires Mexico to have immigration control of people from Muslim countries, either as tourists or as immigrants trying to reach the United States through the border.

Similarly, without confirming the source, news was spread about al Qaeda and Hezbollah units operating in Mexico. This study conducted an analysis of the government's view on Islam, controls and the concept of migration. Methodologically, a discourse analysis was carried out on the representation of Muslims and Islam in official documents, in the news that pointed out the presence of al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas in Mexico, as well as the representation (stereotype) of the Arab Muslim in Mexican popular culture.

Some results and images of what has been addressed will be presented through the concept of social representation of what is different and distant from Islam in a predominantly Catholic culture.