During his visit to a section of the border fence in Texas, Trump praised López Obrador, whom he called “a great gentleman, a friend of mine, who loves his country and also loves the United States.
ALAMO Texas (Agencies) – Eight days after leaving office, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday thanked his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, for his “friendship” and support in controlling the shared border.
In Alamo, Texas, next to a stretch of the wall he is pushing to prevent “crime and drugs,” the outgoing Republican president spared no praise for Lopez Obrador. “I want to thank the great president of Mexico. He is a great gentleman, a friend of mine. President Obrador is a man who really knows what is going on. He loves his country, and he also loves the United States,” he said. “I want to thank him for his friendship and his professional working relationship,” he added about the Mexican president, in power since December 2018.
Trump highlighted Mexico’s deployment of 27,000 soldiers to patrol its borders in the last two years, which he said made it possible to stop irregular immigration, mostly from Central America.
El presidente de #EstadosUnidos, Donald #Trump, visita el muro en la frontera con México, en El Alamo https://t.co/ADfarjZrkn
— Reuters Latam (@ReutersLatam) January 12, 2021
In addition, he celebrated the Protocols for the Protection of Migrants (MPP) sealed with Mexico during the government of López Obrador, an agreement that he called “pioneering” and by which foreigners who arrive at the border of the United States asking for asylum must wait for the resolution of their cases in Mexican territory. “This measure alone ended a humanitarian crisis and saved countless lives,” Trump said.
The White House said the president traveled to Alamo to “mark the completion of more than 400 miles of the border fence,” which is considered a “promise fulfilled,” and to “highlight his government’s efforts to reform a dysfunctional immigration system.
However, the “greatest, most magnificent” wall promised by Trump in the 2016 election campaign was not completed. Of the total completed, only about 20 km have been built in areas where no physical barrier existed before. The rest corresponds to improvements or reinforcements of existing fences.
P.S. – Mexico never paid for the wall.
