Mexico’s top diplomats issued a veiled threat to the U.S. government suggesting that without their efforts, 250,000 more Central American migrants could proceed north. The statement follows President Donald Trump’s threat of raising a 5 percent tariff if Mexico does not strengthen its borders.
On Monday evening, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat posted a statement claiming the country was effectively providing humanitarian visas to Central American migrants and strengthening immigration enforcement operations in southern Mexico.
📄El @GobiernoMX reitera su compromiso de diálogo con el Gobierno de #EEUU para llegar a un común acuerdo, y enfrentar los efectos negativos derivados de los flujos migratorios que afectan a ambas naciones y a la región. 🇲🇽🇺🇸🌎https://t.co/zxejjRZrSg pic.twitter.com/xsdiGEx3GA
— SRE México (@SRE_mx) June 3, 2019
“Without these important Mexican efforts in immigration matters, the U.S. would receive 250,000 additional migrants, only in 2019,” the prepared statement revealed. The veiled threat was buried at in the middle of a document where Mexican officials claimed to have deported more than 80,000 migrants and arrested 400 suspected smugglers in conjunction with U.S. officials.