At her Thursday morning press conference, held on International Migrants Day, President Claudia Sheinbaum hit back at remarks U.S. President Donald Trump made about immigrants in the United States.
Later in the press conference, she fielded a question about U.S. sanctions against a notorious Mexican criminal group.
Sheinbaum responds to Trump’s remarks about migrants
A reporter asked Sheinbaum her opinion on the remarks Trump made about migrants during a speech on the U.S. economy he delivered on Wednesday night.
In the speech, Trump said that during the Biden administration the United States “border was open” and “our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people, many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums.”
“They were drug dealers, gang members and even 11,888 murderers,” he said.
Trump also said that “we inherited the worst border anywhere in the world, and we quickly turned it into the strongest border in the history of our country.”
In addition, he said “we’re deporting criminals” and asserted that Somalians “have taken over the economics of the state [of Minnesota] and have stolen billions and billions of dollars from Minnesota, and indeed from the United States of America.”
Sheinbaum — who has previously condemned the criminalization of migrants — said that she and her government colleagues don’t agree with Trump’s remarks.
Mexicans and people from “many other places in the world arrive in the United States seeking a better life and better income in order to send [money] to their families,” she said.
Sheinbaum also highlighted that the United States “grew with migration.”
“It’s the origin of our neighboring country, … they arrived from Europe, from many places and built the nation it is,” she said.
Sheinbaum also highlighted that “Mexicans help the United States economy in many areas,” including in the agriculture, construction and services sectors.
“Also in many areas where there weren’t Mexicans [before],” she added before specifically citing “research centers” and noting that Mexican scientists and academics live and work in the United States.
“So, we seek another view [of migration] and we’re always going to defend … our brothers and sisters” in the United States, said Sheinbaum, who has voiced her opposition to Trump’s deportation agenda on several occasions.
US action against Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is ‘not something new,’ says Sheinbaum
A reporter noted that the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Wednesday that it had sanctioned the Guanajuato-based Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL).
In a statement, the Treasury Department announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had also sanctioned José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz, the CSRL leader who was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2022.
Treasury said that CSRL “derives the vast majority of its illicit revenue from fuel and oil theft in the Mexican state of Guanajuato,” and noted that the conflict between the criminal group and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel “for control of fuel and oil in Guanajuato has made the state one of the deadliest in Mexico.”
“CSRL’s activities also help enable a cross-border energy black market, undermine legitimate U.S. oil and natural gas companies, and deprive the Mexican government of critical revenue,” the statement said.
OFAC’s sanctions on CSRL and Yépez Ortiz include the blocking of “all property and interests in property” they have in the United States.
Asked what information her government had about the sanctions, Sheinbaum responded that the United States’ action against CSRL is “not something new,” telling reporters that U.S. bank accounts linked to members of the Guanajuato-based crime group were frozen several years ago.
“Now there is an additional sanction, but the freezing of accounts occurred some time ago,” she said, noting that the head of the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit had informed her and her security cabinet colleagues of the situation prior to the mañanera.
Asked about the Treasury Department’s accusation that Yépez “continues to be active in CSRL from within prison,” Sheinbaum responded that it is the responsibility of the Security Ministry to investigate crimes allegedly committed from jails.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
