Lopez Obrador asks the United States not to use Mexico as a “piñata”

MEXICO CITY (EFE).- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked US politicians on Thursday to stop using Mexico as a “piñata” after the failure of an immigration plan in the US Senate that allowed the border to be closed and more migrants expelled to Mexican territory. .

He added: “Yesterday there was a vote in the US Congress and the proposal presented by President (Joe) Biden on immigration issues was rejected because everything is already electoral politics and they want to use the immigration issue, which we will not allow.” Like other issues to move forward in the electoral field.”

“Mexico is no one’s piñata, so we will be vigilant,” Lopez Obrador concluded in his morning conference.

Lopez Obrador pointed out the failure of the border security bill, on Wednesday, in the US Senate, as it did not receive the 60 votes needed to proceed with its discussion, compared to 50 votes against it and 49 votes in favour.

A setback that has an impact in Mexico

The proposal sought to expel asylum seekers to Mexico and close the shared border if the threshold of 5,000 irregular crossings in a single day was exceeded, but Republicans stopped supporting it because former President Donald Trump spoke out against it because he hoped to promote the issue in his state. US presidential election campaign

“Yesterday this immigration proposal was actually rejected and they rejected it, because they are one of those surreal things, the Republicans, it was supposedly the most active reform of the Democrats, there was even talk of closing the border and the Republicans are rejecting it,” commented the Mexican president.

US pressure on Mexico has increased because, in addition to record migration levels, with more than 300,000 irregular crossings last December, presidential elections in both countries coincide in 2024.

Science for elections

However, Lopez Obrador considered that “there is nothing to be afraid of.”

“It's part of what goes on in politics in electoral times. “They rejected it (the reform) because they want to raise the anti-immigrant flag high, and if they reach an agreement, they will no longer be able to use the immigration issue as a flag.”

The president repeated his proposals to regulate the conditions of Mexican immigrants who have been in the United States for more than five years and approve a development plan for poor Latin American countries.

“Then let me go, when any party commits to that, whatever party it is, if they commit to organizing our countrymen who work honestly, who contribute so much to the development of that great nation and it is unfair that they are not recognized,” he concluded by saying, “those rights.”