Mexico President Obrador complains he didn't get to say goodbye to his friend Donald Trump before he left the White House, as he demands Joe Biden grant American citizenship to Mexican nationals working in the US
Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador complained he was unable to say goodbye to his 'friend' Donald Trump before he left the White House, as he urged Joe Biden to grant citizenship to Mexican nationals working in the United States.
Obrador had a rocky relationship with Donald when he first took office in 2018, accusing the US president of racism over his 'Mexicans are rapists' comments and plans to build a border wall.
But the relationship between the two leaders has improved over the past three years with Trump saying they had become friends 'against all odds.'
On Wednesday, the Mexican leader praised Trump and lamented that he wasn't able to say goodbye before Trump left office.
'I couldn't say goodbye to President Trump,' López Obrador said. 'I take the opportunity to express that the relationship we had with Trump was good and I think that for the benefit of Mexico on different issues, there were few disagreements.'
'Fortunately an agreement was reached, the problem was solved,' he added. 'Things favorable for Mexico that were achieved with Trump, first, the respect for our sovereignty. He never made the decision to send agents to deal with cases that only correspond to us.'
The leftist leader made the claims Wednesday during his daily morning press briefing at Mexico City's National Palace, hours before Biden took the oath and was sworn in the 46th president of the U.S.
López Obrador wished Biden luck ahead of his inauguration and said he hopes for improved immigration between their two countries after Trump's 'zero policy'.
He added he wants Biden to grant citizenship to Mexican nationals living and working in the US.
Former President Donald Trump had a long and well-documented history of making scathing attacks on Mexico over the years, but he welcomed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the White House with open arms on July 8, 2020. The Mexican leader said on Wednesday that relationship his country has with 'Trump was good and I think that for the benefit of Mexico on different issues, there were few disagreements'
Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on President Joe Biden to address the status of Mexican nationals living in the United States as part of a plan that will grant citizenship to undocumented immigrants
'We have been proposing that our countrymen who have been working for years should be regularized, contributing to the development of that great nation,' López Obrador said.
'I hope that today or in the coming days he presents the migration plan. What it is going to consist of, how they are going to respect their right to be recognized, that they get dual nationality.'
López Obrador shied away from congratulating Biden on his November election victory while Trump mounted a failed challenge of the results because he wanted to respect the process and because, Trump has respect his country.
With Biden at the White House, López Obrador hopes the new American leader will quickly fulfill campaign promises to launch an immigration plan.
Immigration has become a priority issue for Biden, who is planning to roll back Trump's harsh measures and enact sweeping reforms that would put 11 million people living illegally in the U.S as of January 1, 2021, on an eight-year path to citizenship.
López Obrador said such a move should complement policies to support poor Central American nations and southern Mexico, areas which send many migrants to the United States.
Over the weekend he called on the United States, Honduras and Guatemala to sit at the negotiating as nearly 8,000 Hondurans had crossed into Guatemalan territory and clashed with soldiers and police wielding batons.
The immigration caravan bound for the United States had been broken up by Tuesday, preventing most, except for a few hundred who remained in Guatemala, from moving forward and illegally entering Mexico.
'I hope that that offer is fulfilled, with that commitment, I hope so, and I will recognize and celebrate it,' López Obrador said. 'If this is so, it has to be accompanied by something that I also raised at the time, which is support for Central America and Mexico, cooperation for development, and preventing people in Central America from being forced to emigrate.'
President Joe Biden, pictured with First Lady Jill Biden during Wednesday's ceremony in which he was sworn as the 46th president, is slated to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged Biden to consider citizenship for Mexican national who live and work in the U.S.
Former President Donald Trump opined about his admiration for the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador leader and called him a cherished partner and claiming that the US’ and Mexico’s economic and security ties are reaching new heights.' But the pair's relationship had its ups and downs when López Obrador accused Trump of being racist after he called Mexicans 'rapists'
More than 36 million Hispanics of Mexican origin live in the United States, according to Pew Research Center.
López Obrador also said combating the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recovery were key areas for the bilateral relationship, saying U.S. stimulus could eventually help Mexico.
López Obrador is hoping to work with Biden on immigration, after a difficult period under the Trump administration.
Trump and López Obrador's relationship hit rock bottom in 2019 when Trump threatened to impose import tariffs on Mexico due to the influx of undocumented migrants seeking asylum and illegal entry at the 2,000-mile international border that divides Mexico and the United States.
López Obrador eventually relented and dispatched his then newly created National Guard to combat illegal migration from Guatemala in his country's southern border and at the north with the United States. Mexico also agreed to house migrants in its territory as they awaited for their asylum hearing court dates with immigrant judges in the United States.
But López Obrador and Trump eventually warmed up to each other during a White House meeting in the summer of 2020 to announce the Mexico-United States-Canada trade agreement.
'As in the best times of our political relations, during my term as president of Mexico, instead of insults toward me and more importantly against my country, we have received from you understanding and respect,' López Obrador told Trump in the Rose Garden.
'The forecasts failed. We didn't fight. We are friends, and we're going to keep being friends,' he added.
During a private meeting, Trump and Obrador exchanged baseball bat, with Trump saying their friendship had been formed 'against all odds.'
The son of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán turned himself in during an operation in October 2019 in Mexico when Mexican security forces tracked him down and served him an arrest warrant after the United States requested his extradition. But Mexico's President López Obrador was forced to order his release after the Sinaloa Cartel launched a massive attack. The Mexican president said on Wednesday that Trump offered intervention but that it was denied
U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a group of undocumented immigrants after illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border in Mission, Texas. President Joe Biden plans to sent a bill to Congress that will create a path to U.S. citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants
A migrant caravan of almost 8,000 Honduran migrants were stopped from crossing into Mexico this week and were sent back to Honduras after they clashed with Guatemalan security forces who blocked their journey to the United States where they hoped to seek asylum. Under the Trump administration, the Mexican government was forced to toughen up its southern border and cut off the flow off migrants to the Mexico-United States border after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imported goods
‘The relationship between the United States and Mexico has never been closer than it is right now, and as the president said … people were betting against that. We are doing tremendous job together. We are cherished friends, partners and neighbors,’ Trump said.
López Obrador thanked Trump for respecting Mexico's national sovereignty, especially when he gave the green light to release Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's son from custody after Sinaloa Cartel gunmen unleashed a war-like attack on security forces on October 17, 2019.
He turned down Trump's offer to send in the military to help hunt the killers of the nine Mexican-American children and mothers who were executed November 4, 2019.
'In the difficult moments in the Sinaloa cases, when Mr. Guzmán Loera's son was arrested and later released for the reasons we explained, he spoke offering support, we told him that we were going to solve the problem,' López Obrador said.
'Then the unfortunate murders of the children and women in Bavispe , also spoke to offer support and it was the same.'