The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has expressed skepticism regarding reports of President Joe Biden’s plans to build additional border walls between their two countries amidst escalating issues related to illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Lopez Obrador cast doubt on the seriousness of Biden’s intentions, especially after Biden explained to reporters that he felt compelled to undertake this action to adhere to a congressional spending bill passed during the Trump administration.
“It’s pure publicity,” Lopez Obrador said in a regular morning press conference after the Biden administration announced it would build additional sections of border wall, carrying forward a signature policy of the Trump administration, Reuters reported.
AMLO’s comments followed a meeting on Thursday between a delegation of senior U.S. officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and their Mexican counterparts, as reported by Reuters.
“They don’t want to (build more sections of the wall), that’s what they told us,” Lopez Obrador noted.
Biden previously stated that the funds had been allocated by Congress, and therefore, he was bound by law and the Constitution not to reallocate them elsewhere.
AMLO added that in talks held the previous day, the Mexican delegation told the U.S. officials his country “does not believe (additional border wall construction) to be the answer to the migration problem.”
“We’ve always spoken about tending to the root causes,” Lopez Obrador said.
On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced challenges while responding to NBC White House reporter Peter Alexander’s questions. This occurred after the Department of Homeland Security indicated the need for new “barriers” along the southwestern border, which some refer to as a “wall.” President Biden had previously expressed his opinion that “walls don’t work.”
Despite his personal views, Biden defended his administration’s decision to waive 26 federal laws in South Texas, permitting the construction of approximately 20 miles of additional border wall. He stated that he had no choice but to utilize the Trump-era funding for the barrier in order to address illegal migration from Mexico, as reported by the Associated Press.
“So, who is right? The statement from the DHS secretary overnight or the president’s commentary this morning saying they don’t work?” Alexander asked.
“Well, we believe — so, first of all, he was asked, ‘Do you believe…’ — let me get the exact — ‘Do you believe…’ — by your colleague Selina here — ‘Do you believe the border wall works?’ He said, ‘No.’ Right? He answered that directly,” Jean-Pierre began.
“So, we believe there are more effective ways of dealing with this — dealing with the border security. And so, of course, we have repeatedly asked Congress to make sure that CBP have the resources they need to do their jobs. And we think there are other ways to do that, whether it’s smarter, more effective border security measures — and so — you know, like tech- — border — border technology. We believe that works when you modernize that,” she continued.
“And also, land ports — land ports of entry. We believe that’s what works to deal with border security,” the spokeswoman added.
“And so, we’ve been very clear. The President has very clear about this. He doesn’t believe — believe the border wall is effective, and that has not changed. That has not changed,” she said.
“We are complying by the law. DHS is complying by the law that — that — that — an appropriation that came from fiscal year 2019, under the last administration — Republican leadership — and that’s what you’re seeing now,” she added.
Later, she said: “Since May, we have returned — we have returned — or, sent away or sent back more than 300,000 migrants who came here undocumented. And so, that is — shows that — our commitment to the border and that shows a commitment in making sure that we tried to work in a system that is broken.”
