Tuesday marked exactly 11 weeks since Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president.
In just under five weeks, Donald Trump will commence his second term as United States president, which could mark the beginning of a significantly different relationship between the U.S. and its southern neighbor.
At her morning press conference on Tuesday, Sheinbaum responded to one question about the “Trump wall” and another about the president-elect’s mass deportation plans.
Earlier in the president’s mañanera, security officials provided a security update.
‘We have to build bridges, not walls’
A reporter noted that Trump spoke about the border wall at a press conference on Monday. The reporter subsequently put the following question to Sheinbaum:
“Is a bigger wall or a wall that separates the United States from Mexico the solution to contain migratory flows, or does more need to be done?”
In response, Sheinbaum noted that ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador “revealed right here” during one of his mañaneras that while speaking with Trump on a call he told the former United States president that migrants and drugs will continue to enter the U.S. from Mexico even with the presence of a wall between the two countries.
“He showed him a photograph of a tunnel where drugs and migrants went through,” she said.
“We’ve always been of the idea that we have to build bridges, not walls,” Sheinbaum continued.
“And the most humane and effective solution to migration is to attend to the causes … so that people don’t have to migrate out of necessity. That will always be our vision,” she said.
Preparations continue for possible mass deportations from US
Sheinbaum told reporters that the government is “working in case there are deportations” to Mexico of large numbers of people currently living in the United States.
Trump has pledged to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Sheinbaum said that the government will be prepared to “welcome” Mexicans who are deported. She noted that Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez on Monday held a Zoom meeting with governors of border states to discuss Mexico’s plans.
“We’re collaborating, and in due course, the strategy will be presented,” Sheinbaum said.
She also said that the government is “strengthening” its consulates in the United States so that they are able to provide better legal support to Mexican immigrants.
Sheinbaum said earlier this month that the federal government would work with states to prepare for possible mass deportations of Mexicans from the U.S.
“We hope that it doesn’t happen, but if it does happen, we’ll be prepared to welcome them,” she said Dec. 5.
Almost 7,000 people arrested for ‘high-impact crimes’ since Sheinbaum took office
During the government’s fortnightly security update, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch highlighted that 6,745 people have been arrested for “high-impact crimes” such as murder and kidnapping since Sheinbaum was sworn in as president on Oct. 1.
He said that 6.1 tonnes of drugs and more than 3,000 firearms have been seized in the same period.
“These seizures mean less violence in the streets and less doses of drugs that harm the health of millions of young people,” García said.
The security minister also said that the federal government has ramped up collaboration with its state counterparts in order to combat crime more effectively and “arrest generators of violence.”
Daily homicide rate down 6.9% this year
Marcela Figueroa Franco, head of the National Public Security System, presented data that showed there was an average of 82.3 homicide victims per day in Mexico between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16.
The daily rate represents a 6.9% decrease compared to 2023 and an 18.1% decline compared to 2018, during which Enrique Peña Nieto was president for the first 11 months of the year.
Figueroa also presented data that showed there were 28,883 homicides between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16.
Guanajuato recorded the highest number of murders in the period followed by Baja California, México state, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Guerrero and Nuevo León. Just under 50% of all homicides this year occurred in those seven states.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
