Critics, meanwhile, said Trump’s glossing over the fate of people who are peacefully living in the US without permission doesn’t make up for his overall approach.
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“If you listen carefully to what he said at the press conference, he presented a really cogent picture of the importance of a friendly Mexico to the US but he didn’t say it very well”.
At a news conference after their 70-minute meeting, Trump said he and Pena Nieto had not discussed who would pay for the wall he wants to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border. Later that evening, Trump appeared in at a campaign rally in Phoenix where he went back to his old demagogue ways with a venomous policy speech that showed very little sign of a softening of his immigration stance.
The president said he extended an invitation to both candidates on Friday, and Trump was the first to accept. The idea that the Trump campaign cares about a country he’s been lambasting for 15 months is ridiculous.
But Peña Nieto later tweeted “At the start of my conversation with Donald Trump I made clear that Mexico will not pay for a wall”.
“Our message to the world will be this: you can not obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country”, he said.
He acknowledged Mexicans’ “enormous indignation” over Trump’s presence in the country and repeated that he told him in person Mexico would in no way pay for the proposed border wall, according to the Associated Press. But he quickly said on Twitter that the wall came up, and there was no way Mexico would be paying.
“After that, the conversation moved on to other topics and unfolded in a respectful manner”, he added in another tweet.
Immigration is Mr Trump’s signature issue as he battles Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of the November 8 election, and he laid out a tough, 10-point plan to end illegal border crossings and abusive behaviour by undocumented people in the country.
Trump was cheered in Arizona, but his appearance in Mexico sparked anger and protests.
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“People have to get to know that they can count on you, that you won’t say one thing one day and something totally different the next”, she told the American Legion in Cincinnati.
