MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico will continue its measures to stop migrants from reaching its northern border with the United States, its top diplomat said Friday, days after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election vowing a new crackdown on illegal immigration.
Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente stressed that Mexico’s model is working and will stay in place, pointing to data that shows the number of migrants caught by U.S. authorities at the border had fallen 76% since last December.
“It’s working well and we’re going to continue on this path,” he said, speaking at a regular government press conference.
At the same conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that she had spoken to Trump about the border in their first telephone call a day earlier while also pointing the sharp fall in migrant crossings.
“He raised the issue of the border, and he just said it, and I told him, ‘Yes, there is the issue of the border, but there will be space to talk about it,'” said Sheinbaum, who described the conversation as “very cordial.”
Much like he did in his previous term as president, Trump has threatened to slap 25% tariffs on all U.S.-bound Mexican exports unless Mexico stops migrants and drugs from crossing the shared border.
Mexico is extraordinarily reliant on the U.S. market, which is the destination of around 80% of all Mexican exports.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Editing by Laura Gottesdiener)
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