On Immigration, Mexico Says Trump’s Wall is Not the Answer

Donald Trump

President Enrique Pena Nieto’s whirlwind visit to Belize for the Mexico-CARICOM summit was a highlight of the local embassy’s year, and planning has begun for a reciprocal visit, as well as the Bi-National Commission reuniting. A topic that will certainly be on the minds of the politicians and diplomats is the United States’ position on immigration. U.S. President Donald Trump has aggressively pursued an ‘America First’ policy based on restricting migration to those he feels are little threat to the country. A center piece of that policy is the building of a wall along the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico. But Mexican Ambassador to Belize Carlos Quesnel Melendez told News Five that it will not do much good as the U.S. remains linked to the rest of the region by long-established ties.

Carlos Quesnel Melendez

Carlos Quesnel Melendez, Mexico Ambassador to Belize

“The Mexican government considers that these are not the right measures to be taken. We are friends as nations; we have a very strong relationship, Mexico and the U.S. You see that there is a trade between both countries of around five hundred billion per year – that is about one point six billion per day, and you think of the fact that in thirty-two states in the U.S. they are dependent on imports and exports to Mexico, that they are very dependent on the Mexican economy. So we think very strongly that to build walls is not the answer to stop a migration phenomenon. To the contrary, we should strengthen the North American region by in this case signing a new NAFTA treaty that satisfied the three parties. We have nothing against [the U.S.], it’s just that it must be beneficial to the three parties.”