Mexico president joins political foes to blast Trump border plan

[webfact]

Mexico president joins political foes to blast Trump border plan

By Michael O'Boyle

 

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto gestures as he delivers a speech during the 80th anniversary of the expropriation of Mexico's oil industry in Mexico City, Mexico March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday sharply rebuked Donald Trump over his plan to send National Guard troops to the border, joining with opponents to tell the U.S. leader not to vent his domestic political "frustration" on Mexico.

 

Trump has been unable to get the U.S. Congress or Mexico to fully fund his planned border wall, and Trump said Thursday he will probably keep National Guard troops along the Mexican border until it is built.

 

In an unusually combative address, a stern-looking Pena Nieto urged Trump to stop sowing discord between the two nations and demanded a more respectful tone in bilateral relations.

 

"If your recent declarations are due to frustration over issues to do with internal policy, your laws, or your Congress, direct yourself to them, not to Mexicans," Pena Nieto said.

 

For months Mexico has been locked in tortuous negotiations with the United States and Canada to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but hopes have risen recently that some kind of preliminary deal could be within reach.

 

"President Trump: if you want to reach agreements with Mexico, we stand ready," Pena Nieto said, before adding: "We will not allow negative rhetoric to define our actions."

 

Pena Nieto and Trump have had a strained relationship ever since the New Yorker launched his campaign in 2015 with the claim that some Mexican migrants are criminals and rapists.

 

The White House says mobilizing the National Guard was part of Trump's strategy to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country, whom he blames for serious crime.

 

Pena Nieto has faced criticism for failing to take a tough line against Trump in the past. Trump's comments have thrust the countries' relationship into the centre of Mexico's presidential campaign, where Pena Nieto's party is trailing.

 

All the country's presidential candidates on Thursday criticized Trump's plan to militarize the border.

 

The front-runner in the race, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Trump's scheme was political "propaganda" based on misinformation that aimed to stir up "xenophobia" and "racism."

 

"This great threat on the southern border of the United States that he says is there, does not exist," said the leftist Lopez Obrador, who has a double-digit lead in most polls.

 

"This anti-Mexican policy has worked politically because unfortunately there are conservative sectors in the United States with little information and he knows how to awaken an anti-Mexican sentiment," he added during a campaign event in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo.

 

Ricardo Anaya, the second-place contender who heads a right-left coalition, echoed a Senate motion on Wednesday calling on the government to end cooperation with the United States on migration and security if Trump did not back down.

 

"You cannot negotiate or cooperate with threats," he said.

 

Jose Antonio Meade, candidate of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, also attacked the border plan, and independent Margarita Zavala called it a "historic error" and a "hostile act" in a letter addressed to Trump.

 

Barring Meade, all of the candidates are trenchant critics of the president, but Pena Nieto namechecked all four of them and the Senate motion in his scolding of Trump.

 

"As president of all Mexicans, I agree with (their) remarks," he said. "No one stands above the dignity of Mexico."

 

(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dave Graham and Chris Reese)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-06

[bkkgriz]

Indeed, how dare a sovereign nation enforce its own immigration laws. Whatever will the globalist overlords think of that? 

 

Let's keep this simple for all the slow people out there. If you are in a country illegally, you should be deported. If you are planning to enter a country illegally, you should be stopped. Why is this so hard to figure out?

[Baerboxer]

18 minutes ago, bkkgriz said:

Indeed, how dare a sovereign nation enforce its own immigration laws. Whatever will the globalist overlords think of that? 

 

Let's keep this simple for all the slow people out there. If you are in a country illegally, you should be deported. If you are planning to enter a country illegally, you should be stopped. Why is this so hard to figure out?

 

Totally agree with you.

 

But then we aren't politically correct new liberals who want to show compassion for people who enter a country and stay there criminally. Because when given citizenship, they and their offspring will also vote for more pc liberalism.

 

 

[Thaidream]

Enforcing illegal  Immigration is the job of the Border Patrol and the Police and not the Military. Trump's actions are a political farce aimed at is Alt Right Base  but also an insult to Mexico

.  Trump claims to be the great negotiator- why is he threatening Mexico because his political apparatus the Republicans cannot get together with the Democrats for a real Immigration Bill.

If he continues this and applies tariffs- Mexico will retaliate and stop buying US agricultural products and allowing Mexican labor to come to the Us. This will cause a loss for American business and higher prices for Americans. In addition, the Mexicans will stop all drug enforcement and terrorist co-operation.  Trump truly is a fool!!

[Jingthing]

Most of "trump"'s game now is playing demagogue games to keep his sucker hard core white nationalist base in his corner. He's nothing without them. The reality of the damage that he does doesn't matter to him. Just hold on to that base (about 35 percent) for dear life. 

[Thaidream]

The argument is not about Liberalism versus Conservatism.  It is about pragmatism and business and how best to maintain the interest of the United States. America needs Immigrants and Immigrant labor. No American is going to go into the fields and pick fruit or work as labor in Construction or pluck chickens in processing plants. Immigrant labor will do it for minimum wage.

 

Go ahead and block Immigrant labor ala Trump and piss off the Mexicans and then the Canadians and you have higher prices in America and hostile neighbors.  A lose -lose all around.  Trump thinks from emotions not his head. He is incompetent and needs to be replaced.

 

America needs a real Immigration law which provides for temporary Visas fr immigrant labor; categories of needed Immigrants; a diversity lottery and vetting of immigrant family members, Chain migration can be controlled. In addition- the DACA dreamers need to be legitimized and then the program ended.  America is an Immigrant Nation and should always be.

[metisdead]

A baiting post has been removed. 

[farcanell]

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto gestures as he delivers a speech during the 80th anniversary of the expropriation of Mexico's oil industry in Mexico City, Mexico March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday sharply rebuked Donald Trump over his plan to send National Guard troops to the border, joining with opponents to tell the U.S. leader not to vent his domestic political "frustration" on Mexico.

 

President Nieto, then went on to express further concerns over the release of poisonous snakes in chalong. (or may as well have, for all trump cares)

[Trouble]

6 hours ago, Thaidream said:

The argument is not about Liberalism versus Conservatism.  It is about pragmatism and business and how best to maintain the interest of the United States. America needs Immigrants and Immigrant labor. No American is going to go into the fields and pick fruit or work as labor in Construction or pluck chickens in processing plants. Immigrant labor will do it for minimum wage.

 

Go ahead and block Immigrant labor ala Trump and piss off the Mexicans and then the Canadians and you have higher prices in America and hostile neighbors.  A lose -lose all around.  Trump thinks from emotions not his head. He is incompetent and needs to be replaced.

 

America needs a real Immigration law which provides for temporary Visas fr immigrant labor; categories of needed Immigrants; a diversity lottery and vetting of immigrant family members, Chain migration can be controlled. In addition- the DACA dreamers need to be legitimized and then the program ended.  America is an Immigrant Nation and should always be.

The United States had a program in the 1950's for temporary immigrant agricultural labor.  That could be restored if needed.  What we don't need in the USA is hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants every year streaming into the US.  If you think that is not a real problem then you are naive at best.  Illegal immigrants depress the wages, work illegally, and many do not pay taxes.  Go to almost any Thai restaurant in Los Angeles and you will find the Thai owners paying their employees below minimum wages, cash, no taxes or other withholdings. Those workers are students, overstayers, etc.  I have seen it.  That happens in the Latin American community as well.  They are gardeners, busboys, laborers and it's a whole underground economy.  

 

We don't need a diversity lottery at all.  The USA has people from everywhere.  That should just stop. There is no need for it.  I will agree with you that we need real immigration reform and laws but one also needs to ask when when do we have enough.  Los Angeles is not by any means an American city any more.  It's as diverse as any place in the world and it seems to have destroyed what was once the basic culture of the place.  Some may like that, I do not. As I have said before if I wanted to live in third world countries, I would move there.  Unfortunately it has come to me.  Thank goodness, I am well off enough I don't have to live in the barrios and other poorer immigrant areas of the city which have forced the white and black population out.  Even Compton, once the largest black city of the greater Los Angeles area is now predominantly latino.  Too much immigration, too fast, has destroyed the cultural identity of most of the larger cities and will continue to do so as massive immigration brings with it different culture and people refuse to or won't assimilate.  That's the future of the big cities of American because of the past refusal of the politicians to deal with the problem.  Most of that rests on the liberals shoulders with their PC bullish*t. It has forced most middle class whites to move on to greener pastures where their children can get a decent education instead of being in school districts who can no longer deal with the diverse population and have lower graduation rates.  It is all a pathetic mess as the cities can't begin to deal with the diversity that has been created.  That doesn't mean that the immigrants are bad people, it just means that no society can absorb the kind of immigration that has taken place over the last 20 to 30 years and deal with the problems.  Social services, police, health care, schools, etc. are all overwhelmed.  Just the way it is with too many people, too fast.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Trouble

[Thaidream]

I agree with many of your points. I worked in the Los Angeles area for many years and know it well.  The underground economy is massive and fueled mostly by Latino illegal immigration.  However, the culture of Los Angeles and California in general has always been Latino as California was once Mexican territory.

 

You may not like diversity, but it is a fact that diversity and immigration builds countries and has fuelled American growth. Most of us Americans come from Immigrant families.  My Grandparents emigrated from Italy on one side and on the other from Denmark. These are the people who built America  Don't forget the whole American Southwest from Texas to California was once Mexican and there were open borders for decades. If one goes back in History- there are many examples of  Immigrants from all areas of the World contributing to building  America.

 

However, there are many abuses. If I was going to structure an Immigration policy- I would do it this way.

 

A.   A Temporary Guest Worker program in which foreign labor is allowed in to take jobs such as working in the fields; processing plants etc in which there is a shortage of American workers willing to do the job. Visas are for a limited time and renewable  based upon need.  Also temporary Visas for spouse and children only.

B.  Chain Migration needs to be controlled and thus limited to spouses; children and grandparents.

C.  Visas in the H category need to be limited and provided only when an industry such as Hi Tech cannot find American workers to take positions.  (Currently- the abuse is massive in which workers from the Indian Subcontinent are being brought in and paid  half of what an American would get)

D.   I would keep the diversity lottery and limit it to 100K per year- These are not poor and uneducated people but people who have to prove suitability and ability to adjust to America.

E.  I would stop allowing babies born in the US to automatically become a US citizen.  If the mother is illegal- she would have to become legal to get US citizenship for her child.

F.  I would immediately make all DACA eligible illegals in the US legal and announce a time limit for application- anyone who enters or fails to register will not be given legalisation.

G.  For those in the US-illegally at the moment- I would provide a path for legalisation based upon time in country and establish a time limit for registration- Any further illegals or those that refuse registration to be deported.

H.  No border walls which is a waste of money but border security through hiring of more border agents and expansion of technology to stop illegals from crossing.

 

A fair and balanced Immigration policy will mostly solve the problem of illegal immigration- the majority of illegals come from  Central American and South America in search of work- if there is a chance they can get temporary work Visas or student Visas or other legal ways to renter- there would be no need for illegal entry.

[Andaman Al]

14 hours ago, bkkgriz said:

Let's keep this simple for all the slow people out there. If you are in a country illegally, you should be deported. If you are planning to enter a country illegally, you should be stopped. Why is this so hard to figure out?

Errrrm !  And your forebears got to America how exactly? How far back do we go with throwing illegal immigrants out? They have thrown people out who have been in the US for forty years, paying taxes, and they have US families. How about lets do it 100 years back, why stop at 40, Hmmm lets make it 200 years, that's a better number. The settlers entered illegally and the locals tried to stop them, so you committed genocide and wiped them all out. You can't have your cake and eat it, when you are a nation of immigrants then you need to live with it, it is how the USA was built.

 

The US "purchased" California, Texas etc down the barrel of the US - Mexican war. It was a case of take the money or we take it all anyway. Even Ulysses S Grant said later in his life that it was one of the most unjust campaigns ever to be led by a stronger v's weaker nation. And now you want to build a wall and make them pay for it. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

[sukhumvitneon]

Quote

A.   A Temporary Guest Worker program in which foreign labor is allowed in to take jobs such as working in the fields; processing plants etc in which there is a shortage of American workers willing to do the job. Visas are for a limited time and renewable  based upon need.  Also temporary Visas for spouse and children only.

Classic misleading talking point.  A shortage of American workers willing to do the job.....at the wages that are being offered.  That's the part everyone leaves out.  If you genuinely cannot find enough workers to staff your business, then you need to pay more or offer more benefits to attract more workers.  If your business can't afford to do that, then it deserves to tank.  People will move to Williston, North Dakota to work in the oil fields for $80k+ a year.  $30k?  Not so much.

 

Quote

B.  Chain Migration needs to be controlled and thus limited to spouses; children and grandparents

Agreed, but I feel it should be limited to children and spouses only.  Certainly not extended family.

 

Quote

C.  Visas in the H category need to be limited and provided only when an industry such as Hi Tech cannot find American workers to take positions.  (Currently- the abuse is massive in which workers from the Indian Subcontinent are being brought in and paid  half of what an American would get)

See above.  "Job shortage" in modern HR parlance roughly means less than 20 applicants for each available job opening.  320 million+ people live in the US, and you can't find talent? BS.  The truth is, most of these businesses are too cheap to pay talent what it's worth, and the bean counters in accounting only see the value of cheap labor on paper, which bites them in the rear in the end because it usually takes about 4 H1B Indians to match the productivity each American IT worker.   The end result is depressed wages and diminished opportunities for US college grads. There's also a lot of ethnic nepotism among certain groups that goes on with the hiring in certain parts of the IT field, along with fake resumes/degrees being used to secure H1B visas.  The worst part? They don't even have to prove an American can do the job before they hire a foreigner.  As a result, many job ads are structured to exclude all US applicants in order to meet the means test to hire an H1B.  There's an entire industry centered around these activities.  If it were up to me, H1B would be gone tomorrow.

 

Mandatory E-Verify, H1B visas only for jobs that pay $120k+, and a mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for knowingly hiring an illegal are what's needed.

 

Quote

D.   I would keep the diversity lottery and limit it to 100K per year- These are not poor and uneducated people but people who have to prove suitability and ability to adjust to America.

The diversity lottery is completely pointless and needs to be discontinued.  Not poor and uneducated people who are suited to settle in the USA?  How do you know that?  In any event, it's a completely unnecessary immigration category.  There's enough diverse ethnic groups here as it is.

 

Quote

E.  I would stop allowing babies born in the US to automatically become a US citizen.  If the mother is illegal- she would have to become legal to get US citizenship for her child.

Agreed.  Only, that if the mother and baby are illegal then they both have to go back to wherever they're from and find a legal immigration route.

 

Quote

F.  I would immediately make all DACA eligible illegals in the US legal and announce a time limit for application- anyone who enters or fails to register will not be given legalisation.

DACA was an unlawful use of an executive order that overstepped the Presidents' authority.    All "dreamers" need to go back to their home countries and find a legal means to immigrate.

 

Quote

G.  For those in the US-illegally at the moment- I would provide a path for legalisation based upon time in country and establish a time limit for registration- Any further illegals or those that refuse registration to be deported.

Nope.  When you reward lawbreaking, you get more of it.  Deportation and a 10 year ban are in order.

 

Quote

H.  No border walls which is a waste of money but border security through hiring of more border agents and expansion of technology to stop illegals from crossing.

Defending borders and the territorial integrity of a country are a waste of money?  I can think of a dozen more things off the top of my head that are a bigger waste, the wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan chief among them.  The US needs greater scrutiny of visas, better protection on the southern border, and in all honesty, exit immigration control like you see in most other countries except US, Canada, UK.  Currently, federal law allows for CBP to conduct exit control, but retrofitting US airports to allow for this is hideously expensive.  So, it will be a challenge.

 

Bottom line though?  Both parties have been in on this for a while.  Democrats need their voters,  and Republicans want their cheap labor and to drive down wages.  Both US political parties as they stand are utter garbage.  Learn the scam, morons.

Edited April 7, 2018 by sukhumvitneon

[Thaidream]

We can go back and forth all day on this issue and always come up with different opinions.  I would agree the whole American political system is broken but that is a different argument that must be addressed for America to move forward

 

I start from the fact that America is an Immigrant Nation built off the backs of slaves who were brought to America illegally and legal Immigrants like my Grandparents. They also fought in wars and kept America safe. In addition, huge advances in every industry and technological advancement came from Immigrants. so I am not about to stop all Immigration.

 

Your comments about a Guest Worker Program is technically correct- however, to get Americans to go out in the fields to pick fruit and other products; pluck chickens in processing plants and work as laborers in the Construction industry would mean a base wage of $30-$40 per hour. This could mean a massive increase in costs for everything in America from food- housing and  pushing the already labored Middle Class further down the chain. If raising the wages to that level could/would be done without the price increases- America can do without foreign labor but greedy and wealthy business owners are not going to freeze wages- just like the for profit hospitals and doctors have driven medical services higher and higher

 

A perfect example of the above is Japan in which almost all labor is done by the Japanese and almost full employment guaranteed. with wages to match- everything in Japan is  much more expensive because they have no foreign labor or price controls.

 

As far as the DACa people- remember these are mostly children who were brought to America by their parents and the children had no choice but to follow.  Legalize them for humanitarian reasons- and indicate that it will never be done again. Yes, we need a way to legalise all the illegals who have worked hard; paid taxes and have been in America for decades. Do we really want to establish a deportation force and deport 11 million people causing massive unrest in America and destroying the American image abroad.

 

I  would agree to give up the diversity program as long as the Government stopped allowing  special Visas for high Tech foreigners coming in to do jobs Americans can do at half the price. The Tech industry is using these Visas to depress wages and sell products at higher pries. They can certainly establish training programs for unemployed Americans to do these jobs.

 

Frankly speaking- I would not allow many people from Middle Eastern countries to come to the US due to their inability to assimilate and their propensity towards violence. While this is a harsh statement- America does have the right to limit Immigration from any country if it so desires.

I would also severely limit Visas for the Chinese, Russians and any other Nation that is hostile to the US  for educational purposes. Why should America educate the citizens of these Nations to return home and use the education against America.

 

As has been pointed out the devil is in the details and the Repubs and Dems and the President need to work together to come up with an Immigration policy that work for the benefit of America and is fair and equitable.

 

On a personal note- when I was 17- I worked in the strawberry fields of Ohio picking . It was up at first light and back at dark working in the hot sun- being paid 7 cents for a small basket picked. I was the only American out there and rest were  migrants- all poor and all working to stay alive. At age 17- I was in great shape but this was back breaking work and it drained me each day.  I wasn't very good at it and the migrants beat me on production every day. You would have to pay me one hell of  a good wage to do this in today's economy.  Just try if for a day. America needs legal guest workers.

[Redline]

23 hours ago, bkkgriz said:

Indeed, how dare a sovereign nation enforce its own immigration laws. Whatever will the globalist overlords think of that? 

 

Let's keep this simple for all the slow people out there. If you are in a country illegally, you should be deported. If you are planning to enter a country illegally, you should be stopped. Why is this so hard to figure out?

Accept the wall as an idiotic idea.  We currently have no enemies bordering our country.  Only an idiot would change that to endanger his own country.  There are more constructive ways of solving this issue.  Maybe you are the simpleton ??

[Jingthing]

All "trump" is doing is bringing Mexico closer to China and who knows maybe Russia is next.

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