MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked the two United States presidential candidates on Thursday that if they address the immigration issue during their first electoral debate, scheduled for the night, they be objective on the immigration issue.
“Currently there is no serious immigration problem and both former President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden know that… we have been doing our part,” he said during his daily morning briefing. “We have made every effort, even when we have had no response… to address the causes” of migration.
López Obrador, who said he would watch the televised debate closely, recalled that the arrival of migrants at the northern border has decreased so far this year and that is why he asked that it not be used “as an excuse, as a pretext with the desire to blame Mexico and want to look good to the citizens of the United States.”
The president also referred to Mexican emigration to the north, which was reduced because, in his opinion, the causes have been addressed “with growth, with employment, with well-being.”
But violence and economic problems remain in many parts of the country and, according to data from US authorities, Mexicans have been intercepted on more than 310,000 occasions this year, a figure slightly lower than the almost 340,000 in the same period of 2023. .
López Obrador once again asked Washington to allocate more funds to cooperation with Central America, the Caribbean countries and South America and to establish dialogue with the main countries that send migrants such as Cuba or Venezuela.
