A spokesman for the Mexican presidency said the meeting would be in Mexico and that details of the encounter were still being worked out.
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After news of the Mexico visit emerged, Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, noted Trump’s history of derogatory statements about Mexicans and his vows to deport 16 million people, including some who are USA citizens.
Donald Trump says on Twitter he’s accepted the invitation to visit Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
“From day one I said that I was going to build a great wall on the SOUTHERN BORDER, and much more”, he posted on Twitter.
The talks will take place hours before Trump is to give a major speech on Wednesday night as he seeks to straddle a fine line between being tough on illegal immigration but giving moderate voters a reason to give his candidacy a fresh look.
The visit will come as Trump looks to clarify his stance on immigration, which is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. In what observers said was a softening of his views, Mr Trump has spoken warmly of those migrants who have travelled to the United States illegally but then contributed to their families and to U.S. society. At his campaign announcement last June, Trump suggested that many Mexican immigrants to the USA are rapists.
Trump has routinely assailed Mexican immigrants who illegally cross the border into the United States.
The Mexican presidency also tweeted via their official account that Trump “has accepted the invitation and will meet privately tomorrow with the president Enrique Pena Nieto”.
Trump said he is ready with his immigration speech and will deliver it Wednesday in Arizona.
In March, Peña Nieto said “there is no scenario” in which Mexico would pay for such a wall. It has been unclear whether he still wants to deport 11 million people.
In the same interview, Pena Nieto compared Trump’s language to that of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying it had hurt U.S. -Mexico relations.
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“Nothing has changed about Donald Trump‘s position on dealing with illegal immigration”, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, said on CNN Sunday, adding that the real estate mogul’s previous proposal for a deportation force “was a mechanism, not a policy”. “You have to eliminate sanctuary cities”.
