Trump takes up the wall with Mexico and attacks on immigration to attract voters at the border. He has also threatened to impose a “toll” on vehicles crossing border crossings and a “tax” on remittances sent by Mexicans to their families.
YUMA Arizona (Agencies) – Donald Trump has returned to his anti-immigrant speech. On Tuesday, August 18, the U.S. President traveled to Yuma (Arizona), on the border with Mexico, to promote in a campaign event the construction of the border fence.
Trump had taken up the old xenophobic phrases he used in 2015 to attack Mexico when he announced that he would participate in next year’s presidential elections. “We have people coming into this country. Some great people, some very bad people too, and I mean murderers, rapists, really bad people. And they don’t come back, when we take them back to their countries, it could be Mexico, they don’t come back” (SIC) at a rally at the Yuma airport.
The president has offered the recurrent speech in which he accuses Mexico of indiscriminately allowing immigrants to enter the United States. He has also threatened to impose a “toll” on vehicles crossing any border crossing or a “tax” on remittances sent by Mexicans. Trump has embarked on a tour of several states in the same week as the Democratic National Convention and when some polls place him at a slight disadvantage to Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Trump has acknowledged that the November 3 election will be a “close call” and has encouraged his supporters to convince other voters. “We need every vote because it’s probably going to be very close,” he said. This is the third time the U.S. president has visited Yuma during 2020, the last time being in June when he celebrated the construction of 400 kilometers of the wall. The border between the two countries is 2,000 miles long. This time, he has also announced that the border patrol union has joined his candidacy.
Trump’s comments also come when the relationship between Mexico and the United States seemed to be calming. In July, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited the White House, praised the American, and celebrated the launch of the U.S.-Mexico/Canada Free Trade Agreement.
Trump then avoided commenting on the wall. Mexico has increased surveillance on the border in the last year by sending the National Guard to the most sensitive points of the crossing and has agreed to collaborate with the U.S. to receive immigrants seeking asylum in Mexican territory while they await their hearings.