Eight days after leaving office, U.S. President Donald Trump thanked His Mexico counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday for his “friendship” and support in controlling the common border.
In Alamo, Texas, next to a stretch of the wall that drives to prevent “crime and drugs,” the outgoing Republican representative spared no praise for López Obrador.
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“I want to thank the great president of Mexico. He’s a great gentleman, a friend of mine. President (Lopez) Obrador is a man who really knows what’s going on. He loves his country and he loves America too,” he said.
“I want to thank you for your friendship and your professional working relationship,” he added of the Mexican representative, in power since December 2018.
Trump highlighted Mexico’s deployment of 27,000 troops to patrol its borders over the past two years, which he said stopped irregular immigration, mostly from Central America.
In addition, it concluded the Protocols for the Protection of Migrants (MPP) sealed with Mexico during the government of López Obrador, an agreement that he described as “pioneer” and by which foreigners who reach the U.S. border seeking asylum must await the resolution of their cases on Mexican territory.
“This measure alone ended a humanitarian crisis and saved countless lives,” Trump said.
#EstadosUnidos President Donald #Trump visits the wall on the Mexican border at El Alamo https://t.co/ADfarjZrkn
— Reuters Latam (@ReutersLatam) January 12, 2021
The United States and Mexico share about 3,000 kilometers of border.
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The White House said the president traveled to Alamo to “mark the completion of more than 400 miles (640 km) of border wall,” which he considered a “promise fulfilled,” and to “highlight his government’s efforts to reform a dysfunctional immigration system.”
However, Trump’s “big, magnificent” wall in the 2016 election campaign was not completed. Of the completed total, only about 20 km have been built in areas where previously there was no physical barrier. The rest corresponds to improvements or reinforcements of existing barriers.
And Mexico never paid for the wall, as Trump had promised.
Despite tensions with Mexico over migration and trade issues, Trump maintained a very cordial relationship with López Obrador, who visited him in Washington last July in the midst of the U.S. election campaign, which was criticized by opponents and some Mexican analysts.
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