Mexico City (AFP) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called Tuesday for “cool heads” in the face of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of severe new restrictions on migration, among other policy changes. Sheinbaum said Mexico was preparing to repatriate people from other countries expelled by the United States, after Trump vowed to deport “millions and millions” of migrants.
“It’s important to always keep a cool head and refer to signed agreements, beyond actual speeches,” she told her regular morning conference, a day after Trump announced he was sending troops to the border with Mexico to halt illegal migration and again threatened major tariffs on Mexican imports.
On his first day back in office, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.” His administration said it would also reinstate a “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed under Trump’s first presidency, under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.
The White House also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border. Sheinbaum said her government would provide humanitarian assistance to deported migrants from other countries before repatriating them. If migrants cannot enter the United States, “it is much better for them to return to their country of origin,” she said.
Shelters have been set up for migrants in border cities such as Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, and Nuevo Laredo. But “there is not enough space,” and the situation could become “critical,” warned Carlos Pena, the mayor of Reynosa, a city just south of Texas.
Sheinbaum, a leftwinger who has reacted to months of threats from Trump with a mix of pragmatism and firmness, noted that several of the measures dated from Trump’s first mandate. She also downplayed his renewed threat to impose blanket 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada over what he called their failure to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking into the United States. Trump said he could enact the tariffs on February 1.
Sheinbaum noted that a review of the trade pact between the United States, Mexico, and Canada was already planned in 2026.
© 2024 AFP
