AMLO calls the US announcement to build a new border wall a “regression”

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obradordescribed Thursday as “recoil” Washington’s announcement to build new border barriers to contain the overwhelming arrival of migrants, in a policy change by his American counterpart Joe Biden.

The Mexican president expressed his rejection shortly before a high-level meeting that delegations from both countries will hold in Mexico City later in the day, where this issue and other issues such as drug trafficking, trade or development will be addressed, he said.

“This authorization for the construction of the wall is a setback, because that does not solve the problem“, stated the president in his daily press conference, and recalled that Biden had until now been “the only” among the last presidents of the neighboring country to rule out that measure.

The United States government reported earlier that it will build more sections of the border wall in Star County, Texas, while the number of immigrants caught crossing illegally or showing up at legal border crossings on its border is reaching record numbers in recent weeks.

“People do not abandon their towns by choice, it is not about being held back with barriers, with walls; I think we are going to address this issue too.“he added Lopez Obradorwhich reiterated its proposal to intensify economic aid to the Latin American countries from which migrants leave.

The construction of a new fence on the common border, known through a publication in the US Federal Register, requires exemptions from a series of laws, regulations and other requirements, according to the country’s Department of Homeland Security.

The measure reflects a shift in the policy of Biden on physical barriers to stop immigration, a priority that distinguished former Republican President Donald Trump, whom he will potentially face in the 2024 presidential elections and who made the slogan “Build that wall” famous.

According to the Mexican ruler, politicians from “far right” from the neighboring nation, on the side of the Republican party, “they are pushing very hard“to his American counterpart with a strategy”politician” to stay in office and win next year’s elections.

Members of the López Obrador and Biden cabinets in charge of foreign and domestic policy, among others, participate in Thursday’s meetings in the Mexican capital.