Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador, who has a history of speaking out against Republicans cracking down on illegal migration, talked to Biden about migration issues on Tuesday at the North American Leaders’ Summit, and thanked him for not building “even one meter of wall” despite pleas from Republicans. (RELATED: Biden’s North America Pitch Includes Installing EV Chargers, Defending Migrants Against ‘Discrimination’)
(L-R) US President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pose for pictures after speaking to the press during the 10th North American Leaders Summit at the National Palace in Mexico City, on January 10, 2023. (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP) (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)
López Obrador made the remarks because he does not want to be held “accountable by America for his and Mexico’s responsibility for the human and drug trafficking running through his country,” former Deputy DHS Secretary and Senior Fellow for Center for Renewing America Ken Cuccinelli told the Caller.
He has historically been against the wall for “political reasons,” but Trump “prioritized the safety and well-being of the American people over the opinions and perceptions of Mexican leaders,” Chad Wolf, former acting secretary of the DHS and executive director of the America First Policy Institute, said. “It’s clear that President Biden does not share that same view, and the President of Mexico has taken advantage of it.”
“The American people should be insulted” by López Obrador making those comments “while the criminal cartels in Mexico take advantage of the worst immigration crisis in our history, a crisis sparked by President Biden’s open-borders policies,” former Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan, and former Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan told the Caller.
“The cartels have been producing and smuggling records amount of fentanyl that has killed over 100,000 Americans. He should be dealing with widespread corruption in his own law enforcement, military, and leadership team rather than lecturing this country,” the former ICE and CBP officials continued.
One of Biden’s first executive orders was to halt Trump’s border wall, leaving large parts of the border open. The Biden administration has since experienced the largest number of migrant encounters recorded in U.S. history, coming in at 2.3 million in the fiscal year 2022.
The Mexican president also “supports illegal immigration because his country receives billions a year in remittances. He is making record profits from the national security crisis on our border,” Homan and Morgan said.
Mexico received a record-breaking $51 billion in remittances from the U.S. in 2021, an increase of 27.1% from 2020, according to the Wilson Center.
Tennis shoes are among items of clothing left behind at a portable toilet at the US-Mexico border where a gap in the wall separating Algodones, Mexico, from Yuma, Arizona, on May 16, 2022. – A US Federal judge is expected to make a ruling on health policy Title 42 which has been used at the border to expel illegal immigrants due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden argued against building the wall on account of it not being a “serious policy solution” and a “waste of money” in his executive action in 2021. (RELATED: ‘Told Us To Come’: Ahead Of President’s Visit, Illegal Immigrants Say They Crossed The Border Because Of Biden)
Homan and Morgan rebuked Biden’s claims about walls, saying, “walls work. Where are the millions of illegal aliens crossing now? Where there isn’t a wall.”
Cuccinelli added that the wall makes “Mexico look bad” and that the Mexican government is “in cahoots” with cartels “to some degree.”