Mexico President Responds To Trump Claim On Migration

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has appeared to contradict President-elect Donald Trump’s claim that the two have struck a deal to stop migration to the US border.

After a phone call on Wednesday, Trump posted online: “She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum responded quickly that she had reiterated Mexico’s position was not to close borders, but to address migration while respecting human rights.

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Following a phone call with Trump, however, Sheinbaum initially posted on X that the two had had “an excellent conversation”.

“We discussed Mexico’s strategy on the migration phenomenon and I shared that (migrant) caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico.”

Trump later took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to offer a slightly different interpretation of what had been agreed during their conversation.

“Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern Border, effective immediately,” he wrote.

Sheinbaum later went back on X to say that she had “explained to him (Trump) the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights”.

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” she added.

Illegal immigration became a defining issue in the 2024 White House election race that culminated in Trump’s resounding victory this month. He campaigned on a promise to seal the US-Mexico border.

After an unprecedented influx of millions of undocumented immigrants became politically toxic for Democrats, outgoing US President Joe Biden introduced restrictions during this election cycle that sharply reduced illegal crossings.

Under US diplomatic pressure, Mexico has been conducting its largest ever migrant crackdown, bussing and flying non-Mexican migrants to the country’s south, far from the US border.

When Trump takes office he will inherit a situation in which fewer undocumented migrants are being apprehended at the US southern border than at any other time over the past four years.

BBC/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma