Mexicans watch final US debate, hoping for Clinton victory

At a Mexico City barbecue restaurant that could have dropped out of Austin, Texas, an assortment of Mexicans and expats toasted each time Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton said "Mexico" and guffawed when the Republican candidate promised once again to deport the bad guys.

But among the 200 people gathered on Wednesday night to watch the final US presidential debate there was an awareness of how their neighbor to the north impacts their lives. There was fun in collective viewing - complete with bingo cards with things said by the candidates-and ribs and brisket were served from the side of a silver camper.

However, the campaign seems to have a real impact in Mexico where citizens have watched the peso swing in recent weeks with the polls and are flooded with news from the campaign trail.

"It's affecting us right now," said Alejandra Cardenas, a video director from Mexico City. "Our economy is clearly linked, that's why we're all here together."

That impact extends beyond Mexico though. Colombian postdoctoral student Natalia Guevara Jaramillo said she opposes Trump's stigmatization of immigrants.

"What happens in the United States directly affects the entire continent and a large part of the world," she said.

Trump's comments on immigration have been harsh.

He set the tone in declaring his candidacy last year when he talked about Mexico sending "rapists" to the US. His also blamed Mexico for stealing jobs and filling the US with heroin.

During a segment on immigration during Wednesday's debate, Trump explained again how he would halt illegal immigration by building a wall along the US-Mexico border and deport those in the country illegally, including "bad hombres", or bad guys.

"I abhor him. This man has no respect," said Juana-Ines Abreu, a 77-year-old retired Mexican museum director, who sat with friends on one of the restaurant's long table benches.

"What worries me is that he has awakened the 'ugly American'," she said. "He's a xenophobe. He's a vulgar man. He's a dangerous man."

Beers and cheers

During the "final pinche presidential debate" - as a restaurant sign put it-people were encouraged to raise their glass and cheer when Mexico was mentioned, which they obliged a handful of times.

Clinton, the Democratic candidate and former secretary of state, clearly had more fans at "Pinche Gringo" than the New York Republican billionaire.

Some in the crowd laughed during the discussion on immigration when Trump used the Spanish word for man: "We have some bad 'hombres' here, and we're going to get them out" of the US.

But Aline Salazar, a 31-year-old Mexican communications and social media strategist, saw little humor there.

"It goes back to the same point of intolerance and little openness to minorities," she said.

Clinton was applauded when she said that illegal immigrants were paying more federal income taxes than Trump, who has admitted to not paying them in around two decades.