MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s president on Friday attacked the governor of Texas’ newest steps to crack down on unauthorized migration, saying he would urge voters of Mexican origin within the United States to not vote for “anti-immigrant” candidates.
On Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated he had licensed the National Guard and state authorities to “apprehend” migrants and transport them to ports of entry on the border with Mexico.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated the “immoral” policy was supposed to draw help forward of Texas’ November election, through which Abbot, a Republican, is operating for re-election.
“If there is a candidate from a celebration that mistreats immigrants and Mexicans, we will ask our countrymen there that they do not vote for that candidate or get together,” Lopez Obrador instructed reporters at an everyday morning information convention.
Border patrol within the United States falls underneath federal jurisdiction, and Abbott’s order is the newest in a showdown with Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over migration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection, which DHS oversees, didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Abbott’s announcement. The U.S. National Guard referred inquiries to the Texas National Guard, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Lopez Obrador, who will journey to the United States to satisfy with Biden on Tuesday, stated Abbott was overstepping his authority and expressed the view that he was “completely positive” the U.S. president wouldn’t approve of the Texan policy.
Undocumented immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border has been an more and more politicized subject in bilateral relations, notably amongst Republicans since former President Donald Trump’s 2015-2016 profitable election marketing campaign.
Trump triggered widespread outrage in Mexico by describing migrants crossing the border as rapists and drug sellers, and Mexican officers are cautious in regards to the prospect of advances made by the Republicans in November’s midterm elections.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; Additional reporting by Raul Cortes and Kylie Madry in Mexico City and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Editing by Dave Graham and Jonathan Oatis)
