Elections

Trump Says Mexicans Are ‘Spectacular, Hardworking People’ After Meeting With Country’s President

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Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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Donald Trump famously said when he entered the presidential race that many of the illegal immigrants coming from Mexico are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people.”

But speaking after his meeting Wednesday with Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto, Trump repeatedly praised the people of Mexico, calling them “spectacular, hardworking people.”

After a meeting at the presidential palace in Mexico City on Wednesday, Trump and Pena Nieto stood next to each other at podiums, making prepared statements and answering questions from reporters.

“I’m proud to say how many people I employ,” Trump said of people from Mexico.

“And the United States’ first, second and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach people,” Trump said. “Spectacular, spectacular, hardworking people. I have such great respect for them, and their strong values of family, faith and community. We all share a common interest in keeping our hemisphere safe, prosperous and free.”

Pena Nieto and Trump both acknowledged how they discussed trade and immigration, the two issues Trump frequently emphasizes in regard to Mexico.

The meeting, which came at the request of the Mexican president, comes before Trump lays out his immigration plan in more detail during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona later Wednesday. Trump was accompanied to Mexico by Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“I shared with Mr. Trump my conviction that the free trade of North America has done a lot of good to both the U.S. as well as Mexico,” Pena Nieto said in Spanish, as translated in English on CNN.

Speaking on immigration, Pena Nieto said: “Mexican nationals in the United States are honest people, working people….they respect family, they respect life in the community and they are respectful of the law.”

In his prepared remarks, Trump said: “It is a great honor to be invited by you, Mr. President. A great, great honor. Thank you. We had a very substantive, direct and constructive exchange of ideas. Over quite a period of time. I was straight forward in presenting my views about the impacts of current trade and immigration policies on the United States.”

During the press conference, Trump acknowledged that he and Pena Nieto didn’t discuss one of his signature campaign promises — making Mexico pay for a wall along the southern border.

Asked about his vow, Trump said they spoke about the building of a wall , but “we didn’t discuss who pays for the wall, we didn’t discuss.”

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