Mexico City, June 28 (IANS) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that her government will protect the country’s migrants in the United States, where a series of immigration raids have resulted in the arrest of 252 Mexican nationals.
“Our solidarity, our support, and everything within our reach — we will do everything to protect our migrant brothers and sisters,” said the president during her daily press conference on Friday (local time).
Sheinbaum also noted that Mexican consulates in the United States have been instructed to visit, at least once a day, the detention centres of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, as part of a strategy to strengthen the protection of Mexican migrants, reports Xinhua news agency.
She added that the consuls are required to hold a public hearing once a week “to listen and understand what is happening so they can take action.”
The president emphasised that her government will spare no effort or resources to protect migrants from threats or rights violations, and pledged that complaints and concerns raised by Mexicans abroad will be addressed without exception.
Sheinbaum also condemned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ proposal to build a new detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the wetlands in the south of the state.
“Immigrants are not criminals,” she said.
Sheinbaum has been opposing the immigration raids in the United States, saying the measures were counterproductive to the US economy.
Speaking about her meeting with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the president, earlier in June, said the two spoke about several issues, including crime, immigration, trade, and “the defence of our migrant brothers and sisters.” “We oppose the use of raids to detain people working honestly in the United States,” she added, noting the raids “would harm not only the people but the economy of the US.”
It was “a good meeting” that highlighted the importance of strengthening the relationship between the two countries and peoples, said Sheinbaum.
–IANS
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