Mexico City: Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto is considering cancelling next week's visit to Washington following President Donald Trump's order to begin construction of a wall between the two countries.
File pic - Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto
According to a senior government official, the decision to rethink comes amid growing outrage in Mexico and a sense among many that the President has been too weak in the face of Trump's tough policy stance.
“The administration is considering scrapping the January 31 visit. That's what I can tell you,” the official said.
It was not clear when a final decision may be made, the official added.
Acting on his campaign promises, President Trump has signed two executive orders for construction of a wall along the Mexican border and speeding
the deportation of undocumented immigrants even as he said ‘a nation without borders is not a nation’.
"A nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders," Trump said yesterday as he signed two executive orders at the Department of Homeland Security.
"We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border. The unprecedented surge of illegal migrants from Central America is harming both Mexico and the US and I believe the steps we will take starting right now will improve the safety in both of our countries, going to be very, very good for Mexico," Trump added.
He said the two executive orders will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars.
Trump's order came the same day Mexico's foreign relations and economy secretaries arrived in Washington for talks with his administration, and its timing was seen by many in Mexico as a slap in the face.
- IT