President Enrique Pena Nieto awoke to a storm of criticism from Mexicans over his decision to meet Wednesday with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is widely reviled in Mexico for referring to its migrants as “rapists” and criminals.
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The surprise announcement by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he will fly to Mexico on Wednesday has led to a flood of tweets from Mexicans, majority expressing their anger at the visit.
Donald Trump will meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
The billionaire businessman has demanded that if he takes office in January, a wall should be built on the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal crossings.
Trump wrote on his Twitter account that he is looking forward to the meeting with the Mexican President.
But the central question facing Trump was how he would treat the majority of the 11 million illegal immigrants who have set down roots in their communities and obeyed USA laws, an issue that has bedeviled the immigration debate for years. In recent weeks, Trump has appeared to be wavering on what to do with some longstanding residents who have families and jobs and no criminal history.
He compared Pena Nieto’s meeting to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signing of a 1938 peace pact with Germany.
Pena Nieto has dismissed Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for a border wall that the NY businessman has pledged to build if elected on November 8.
Pena Nieto cast a different tone late Tuesday, tweeting, “I believe in dialogue to promote Mexico’s interests in the world and, principally, to protect Mexicans wherever they are”.
Clinton’s campaign has urged voters to not “be fooled” by what it calls Trump’s attempts to disguise his immigration policies.
Mexicans have already made – and beaten to pulp – pinatas of Donald Trump.
Historically, the golden rule of Mexico’s foreign policy has been to avoid being seen as taking sides in USA politics; hence the two invitations, even though Mexico favors Hillary Clinton’s position on a path to citizenship for migrants.
Especially when we all know that Mr. Pena Nieto is not Trump’s No1 fan either.
After saying during his primary campaign he would expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally with a “deportation force”, Trump has suggested recently he might be open to “softening” his stance as he tries to win over more moderate general election voters.
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“It’s nothing more than a political stunt”, said Fox, no fan of Trump, on CNN’s “New Day”.
