Just eight days after leaving office, President Donald Trump thanked Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday for his “friendship” and support in controlling the border between the two countries.
In Alamo, Texas, next to a stretch of wall he pushes to prevent “crime and drugs,” the Republican president spared no praise for Lopez Obrador.
“I want to thank the great president of Mexico. He is a great gentleman, a friend of mine. President (López) Obrador is a man who really knows what is going on. He loves his country and he also loves the United States,” he said. emphasized.
“I want to thank him for his friendship and his professional working relationship,” he added of the Mexican president.
Trump highlighted the deployment by Mexico of 27,000 troops to patrol its borders in the last two years, which, according to him, made it possible to curb irregular immigration, mostly from Central America.
In addition, it celebrated the Protocols for the Protection of Migrants (MPP) sealed with the government of López Obrador, an agreement that he described as “pioneering” and by which foreigners arriving at the EU border seeking asylum must ‘wait for the resolution of their cases in Mexican territory.
“This measure alone put an end to a humanitarian crisis and saved countless lives,” Trump said.
“WE DID IT WELL”
Trump claimed that “we have done well” in reference to the construction of the border wall with Mexico, assuring that the Joe Biden administration “will not be able to tear it down easily.”
Although the United States tops the list of countries most infected and killed by covid-19, Trump said in front of the wall that “this invisible enemy has been very hard on Mexico and we have areas along the border that are in great shape. “We are in great shape, but on the other side of the wall, in Mexico, they are suffering from the virus. It’s amazing what we have achieved,” he said.
“We are working here, on the side of some heroes, in this space, in the open air, looking at this wall. We have reformed this and we have the safest border in the history of the United States on a level like never before,” Trump stated in another part of his speech, the first live after his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington DC last Wednesday.
“We face cartels, smugglers, coyotes, and we have restored the right and the law to follow. For years politicians promised that they would secure the border, once they were elected they did nothing at all, in the on the contrary, they even promised a wall about 10 years ago, but they could not build it, “he said.
On the possibility of political trial facing the House of Representatives today, Trump said that “the prosecution’s deception is a continuation of the largest and cruelest witch hunt in the history of our country and is causing a tremendous anger, division and pain, much greater than most people will understand, which is very dangerous for the United States, especially at this time, ”he added.
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 has considered a “fulfilled promise.”
However, the “big, magnificent” wall promised by Trump in the 2016 election campaign was not completed. Of the total completed, only about 20 km have been built in areas where before 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.