With President Claudia Sheinbaum on her way to Canada to attend the G7 Summit, Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez presided over the federal government’s Monday morning press conference.
Here is a recap of the June 16 mañanera.
More than 56,000 Mexicans deported from US since Trump took office
Deputy Interior Minister Arturo Medina Padilla reported that 56,298 Mexicans have been deported from the United States to Mexico since U.S. President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
He said that 12,183 of that number returned to Mexico on flights that touched down at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport in México state, or at the airports in Villahermosa, Tabasco, and Tapachula, Chiapas.
Medina said that all the deportees who arrive at airports are offered a range of assistance via the “México te abraza” (Mexico embraces you) program.
Those who are “repatriated” via the Mexico-U.S. border and who decide not to go to one of the 10 reception centers set up by the Mexican government in border cities are also “attended to with warmth and humanism,” he said.
“They receive their repatriation letter, food, access to telephone calls, legal advice and bus tickets to their places of origin,” Medina said.
He said that 24,082 Mexicans have chosen to access shelter and services at the 10 reception centers, located in cities including Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Reynosa.
That figure represents around 55% of Mexicans deported to Mexico via the border with the U.S. in recent months.
Medina said that almost 237,000 individual “services” have been provided to deportees who went to reception centers, a figure that includes the serving of meals, the delivery of medical treatment, the issuance of stored-value “well-being” cards and enrollment in the IMSS social security scheme.
He also said that the National Migration Institute has transported more than 13,000 Mexican deportees to their home states. Medina said that “the main destinations” have been Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Mexico City, Michoacán, Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Puebla.
He also said that the government is currently in the process of relocating the deportee reception center in Nuevo Laredo to Tapachula, and that in Nuevo León to Villahermosa.
Rodríguez: Investigations into deaths of mayor and judge are ongoing
A reporter asked the interior minister what information she had about the murder of the mayor of San Mateo Piñas, Oaxaca, and the murder or suicide of a judge who heard high-profile cases including ones involving Ovidio Guzmán (one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons) and José Luis Abarca, the ex-mayor of Iguala linked to the disappearance of 43 students in that city in Guerrero in 2014.
Lilia Gema García Soto, the mayor, was shot dead inside the San Mateo Piñas municipal government palace on Sunday. Everardo Maya Arias, the judge, was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in Zinacantepec, México state, on Sunday. A firearm was found next to his body.
Rodríguez acknowledged that “these regrettable events” occurred, and noted that they were discussed at the government’s security cabinet meeting on Monday morning.
“We’re going to monitor the events that occurred in these places,” she said, adding that investigations aimed at apprehending those responsible will continue.
Reports on the outcomes of the investigations will be provided in due course, Rodríguez said.
Top ministers accompany Sheinbaum to Canada
Rodríguez enumerated the ministers representing Mexico alongside Sheinbaum at the G7 Summit in Canada on Tuesday.
- Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
- Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
- Security Minister Omar García Harfuch.
- Finance Minister Edgar Amador Zamora.
Rodríguez, who occupies the position usually considered second most powerful in the Mexican government, said that Mexico’s ambassadors to Canada and the United States and a few other officials will also attend the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
