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])
Mexico should welcome deportees with open arms. Many are highly skilled and bilingual. Mexico needs a larger workforce and is currently constrained by full employment. Families united and good for the economy.
We already too many bridges “between the US and Mexico and we don’t need any more bridges to keep the “one way flow of “illegal migrants into the US who end up living for “free”. American are “sick and tired” paying for these 11 million “illegals”. Can’t you “dumb” and stupid” politicians and Mexican understand that?
Your President “legal” help she is offering is NOT GOING TO WORK BECAUSE THE “LAW IS BEING BROKEN BY THE ILLEGALS Any person, (Mexican American, Chinese’s, black, white, brown or yellow) no matter what color and who you are and you “break the law”, you get picked up and YOU GO TO “JAIL” OR PRISION”.
tHE “LAW” IS THAT SIMPLE” PRESIDENT SHEINBAUM, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?
Optima expresses both the rage and ignorance of the reality of immigration into the US. Go to any city, small or large, and observe how the immigrants are actually living and acting. Of course, if there are great surges it causes problems. Of course. But where the migration is steady, they are normally welcomed, even in communities that have to add capacity in schools to accommodate them.
That’s the reality. It has not changed since the founding of the Republic. “Give me your tired, your oppressed” says the Statue of Liberty. What the statue doesn’t say, but should, is that “I will make of them instruments of freedom and prosperity and patriotism.”
I recommend that Optima crawl out of his bomb shelter and talk with an immigrant who has become a citizen. Hear the pride. Feel the smile. And then, like all the rest of us, he will tell you what could be a lot better. That’s what we citizens want.
Absolutely!!! Immigrants work hard and give back to their communities. Most are law abiding, kind people. The United States was founded by immigrants!! Did some of these angry anti immigrants not go to school?
Your comments leave me speechless. I’m going to guess you voted for Trump
OPTIMA: This is a ‘simple minded’ statement about a very serious, complex reality.
NO one I have ever known thinks that there should be an “open border” between the USA and Mexico or Canada. It’s just a ‘political screaming point”. A controlled and managed border is essential.
A 1,500 mile secure “fence” is also a “simple” proposition. It is not realistic. Immensely expensive to build, maintain and operate. It will be breached.
NO one has any objection to regularly apprehending, trying and deporting immigrants who violate US laws. Of course, every Country should protect itself from criminals.
The greater issue is the economies of the World are all feather fragile and vulnerable. There are vital issues of supply lines, trade and the ability to engage in commerce and manufacturing, The US Unemployment rate is very low, there is a high demand for labor / workers and a rather low supply. It is very hard to imagine that in this economic world the USA would apprehend, try and deport perhaps as high as 25% of its active workforce. Restaurants would close everywhere, vital construction including new housing would essentially stop and the cost of labor would soar. Get it? The USA does not have enough citizen workers who can or will do many essential jobs. We would be inviting calamity in our economy which is doing very well by all metrics. It would be like shooting ourselves in the knee caps.
Despite your “pride” and setting your insults aside this ain’t some simple matter cured by waving a magic wand. It is NOT as simple as “Jail or prison……the law is the law or ‘stop breaking the immigration laws’
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT MR OPTIMA (whoever you are?).
WHO will harvest our hand crops? WHO will install the sheet rock and do the hard road construction ? WHO will take care of patients and do the hard, difficult and dirty work? WHO will do any of that and much more for the ‘minimum wage’ where their wages cannot cover rents or food and the hard workers need to live 6 or 7 to a crowded ratty apartment so they can send some of their money home for their families.
And, it does not help this complex situation to offend anyone by calling them “….dumb, stupid Politicians and Mexicans”. Why the hell are you so rude? We have a complicated economic equation to balance and we need laborers. The Mexican people are bright, practical and certainly are not ‘lazy’. This is all adult shit and you are acting like a frustrated 8 year old. Grow up, try some critical thinking and become part of finding solutions instead of making inane statements. Good luck to you. Cordially……..
I agree with John Genereux. And let me add, that many immigrants in the USA pay taxes, yet do not receive any benefits. I wonder how Optima would like paying the price of fresh vegetables and fruits if the USA deported all the field hands that are immigrants of whom get zip pay. As it turns out there is not one immigration “law”, there is a complex, often contradictory, not clear web of laws that do not at all the intent of the US Government. There is humanitarian good will, protection of human lives, sanctity of family, economic need of the USA, conflicting political rhetoric and national security all caught up in a legal mess.