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Reuters

Mexico will help to regulate the flow of Central American migrants passing through its territory to the United States, but the root causes behind the phenomenon must be tackled, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday.
Speaking after US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to close the US southern border if Mexico did not halt illegal immigration immediately, Lopez Obrador said he would not have a confrontation with the United States.
“I prefer love and peace,” Lopez Obrador told reporters at his regular morning news conference.
The leftist president has consistently refused to get drawn into a war of words with Trump over the border.




Most of the people caught at the frontier trying to enter the United States illegally come from three countries wracked by violence and poverty: Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Lopez Obrador has tried to persuade Trump to address the problem by fostering economic development in Central America. But on Saturday the US State Department said it was cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Mexico began issuing temporary humanitarian visas to some members of a migrant caravan in southern Mexico, giving priority to children and the elderly, the National Migration Institute said Monday. It said it would provide transport back to Central American countries, Cuba and Haiti, on a voluntary basis.
Artist vows to ‘Make America Grate Again’, with border cheese wall
Earlier this year, Mexico handed out humanitarian visas liberally, but reined in the programme after a surge in applications. The institute said from next month it was planning to encourage people to apply for visas in their home countries.
It was not immediately clear if the government was limiting the number of visas it issues.
Detentions at the US border have surged in recent months, angering Trump and putting pressure on Lopez Obrador to find a solution that will prevent a shutdown of the frontier to the market for 80 per cent of Mexico’s exports.
Asked if it was time to put pressure on the Central American countries to do more to tackle the problem, Lopez Obrador said the causes of migration were “not being attended to” and that people needed to be offered more opportunities there.

“Obviously, we have to help because Central American migrants pass through our territory and we have to bring order to this migration, make sure it’s legal,” Lopez Obrador said.
“That’s what we’re doing. But serenely, calmly, without a commotion and with great prudence and responsibility.”
US Border Patrol projections are for over 90,000 apprehensions at the border during March, according to data provided to the Mexican government – a more than 140 percent increase from March 2018, and a seven-fold jump from 2017.
Migrants tell of being held in barbed wire enclosure, under a Texas bridge
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was working with the Central American governments and Mexico to “solve this problem at the border”, and pointed to the numbers when asked why Trump had toughened his stance.
“Just look at the math,” Pompeo told reporters outside the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. “How many folks are coming across. This is a crisis. We need to fix it.”


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US immigration

Mexican president Lopez Obrador wants to ‘bring order’ to Central American migration to US

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Photo: EPA-EFE

Asylum-seeking migrant families from Central American walk through a field to the main road after they illegally crossed the Rio Grande river into the U.S. from Mexico, in Penitas, Texas, U.S., March 31, 2019. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Donald Trump threatens to close border with Mexico next week unless ‘ALL illegal immigration’ is halted

A group of about 30 Brazilian migrants, who had just crossed the US-Mexico border, sit on the ground near US Border Patrol agents, on the property of Jeff Allen in Sunland Park, New Mexico on March 20. Photo: AFP

500-year-old wound ripped open as Mexico’s president asks Spain to apologise for conquest. Spain says no

Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes led an army of less than 1,000 men to defeat the Aztec empire, the start of 300 years of Spanish rule over Mexico. Photo: Shutterstock

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 30, 2019 Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (R) welcomes Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the National Palace in Mexico City. - On March 25, 2019 Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he had sent letters to Spanish King Felipe VI and Pope Francis urging them to apologize for the "abuses" of colonialism and the conquest. The Spanish government rejected Mexico's request. (Photo by RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP)

Forget the Mexico border, the new US military budget is focused on ‘China, China, China’

ARLINGTON, VA - MARCH 15: U.S. President Donald Trump is welcomed by acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan during his arrival at the Pentagon on March 15, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia. President Trump is expected to meet with military leaders regarding U.S. strategy in Syria. Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Pentagon’s budget on March 14, 2019. Photo: AP

US immigration hell: cold and hungry migrants tell of being held in a barbed wire enclosure, under a bridge in El Paso, Texas

Migrants are held for processing under the Paso del Norte Bridge in El Paso. Photo: Reuters

EL PASO, TX - MARCH 28: Migrants held in temporary fencing underneath the Paso Del Norte Bridge await processing on March 28, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily closed all highway checkpoints along the 268-mile stretch of border in the El Paso sector to try to stem a surge in illegal entry. Christ Chavez/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

EL PASO, TX - MARCH 28: Migrants awaiting processing are held in temporary fencing underneath the Paso Del Norte Bridge on March 28, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily closed all highway checkpoints along the 268-mile stretch of border in the El Paso sector to try to stem a surge in illegal entry. Christ Chavez/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Migrants are seen resting at an improvised shelter under the Santa Fe international bridge, which connects Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. March 24, 2019. Picture taken March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Migrants from Central America are seen inside an enclosure, where they are being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after crossing the border between Mexico and the United States illegally and turning themselves in to request asylum, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

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The Mexican president said the country will help regulate the flow of Central American migrants to the US, but causes behind the phenomenon must be tackled


The Mexican president said the country will help regulate the flow of Central American migrants to the US, but causes behind the phenomenon must be tackled.


Mexican president Lopez Obrador wants to ‘bring order’ to Central American migration to US

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The Mexican president said the country will help regulate the flow of Central American migrants to the US, but causes behind the phenomenon must be tackled

The Mexican president said the country will help regulate the flow of Central American migrants to the US, but causes behind the phenomenon must be tackled