By EFE
Jun 27, 2024, 7:31 PM EDT
Mexico City, Jun 27 (EFE) .- Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on people “not to blame Mexico” for migration in the debate that will be held this Thursday between US President Joe Biden and his rival, former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), stating that “there is no serious problem.”
“Let them know what the immigration situation is today on the northern border so that the immigration issue is not used as an excuse, with the aim of just blaming Mexico and wanting to look good to the citizens of the United States, with all due respect to both candidates,” López Obrador requested in his morning press conference.
His comments came hours before the debate, which will be broadcast on CNN, is unprecedented because it will take place before the conventions of both parties, which formalize the nominations for the presidential race. It will not be organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates and will not have an audience.
The Mexican president anticipated that one of the central issues will be migration, but asked to consider that arrests of migrants on the United States border with Mexico have fallen more than 72%, to 3,479 on June 25, from 12,498 on June 18. December, the highest point of last year.
“If we are dealing with the issue of migration, we should act objectively and with adherence to the truth. Currently, there is no serious problem with migration and both former President Trump and President Biden know that we have insisted on addressing the causes of migration and we have been doing what we are supposed to do,” he said.
López Obrador argued that migration has decreased because his government has reached agreements with countries of origin such as Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti.
He also said that Mexican migration has fallen because the United States has an unemployment rate of 3.9% and Mexico has one of 2.7%, according to his data, so “not as many people go anymore.”
“Mexico is cooperating because we want to have a good neighborly relationship with the United States and we have achieved that, but, as the debates are going on, there is a temptation to blame, but this is the reality,” he said.
The meeting will take place just over four months before the US elections, in which migration on the border with Mexico will be a central issue and whose winner will deal with the next Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1 with the promise of continuing López Obrador’s policy.
“It is very important to see the debate, although it is about the United States, they are our neighbors, 40 million Mexicans live in the United States, we are the main trading partners in the world, we share many kilometers of border,” he concluded.
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