Mexico’s president reacts to Trump moves on immigration, border and cartels. ‘It’s nothing new’
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico will not object to President Trump’s plan to force asylum seekers detained at the southwestern border to wait in Mexico until their cases are heard in U.S. immigration courts, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
Sheinbam did not endorse Trump’s controversial Remain in Mexico policy but said her nation would accept returned noncitizen asylum seekers as a “humanitarian” gesture, and would work to repatriate them to their homelands in Central America and elsewhere.
Sheinbaum’s comments at her daily news conference were her first on Trump’s inaugural-day blitz of executive orders, including several directly affecting Mexico and others overhauling U.S. immigration and border policy.
The Trump administration cancelled a program aimed at easing the process of applying for asylum, leaving thousands of asylum-seekers disappointed and unsure of what to do next.
Sheinbaum, a leftist who took office in October, adopted a conciliatory tone and did not directly criticize Trump. She said that although Mexico must protect its sovereignty, its people must remain “calm” and “cool-headed.”
“We have to avoid confrontations; that’s a responsibility,” said Sheinbaum, who was accompanied at the news conference by her foreign and security secretaries. “At the same time, we have to behave as equals, never subordinate. Defend our sovereignty, our independence and defend Mexicans.”
As she responded to Trump’s decrees on a variety of contentious topics, from immigration to security to tariffs, she noted that several of his initiatives mirrored policies enacted during his first administration — including Remain in Mexico and the new U.S. declaration of a “national emergency” along the southwestern border.
President Trump signed executive orders that will fundamentally change how the nation handles immigration, beefing up enforcement and deportations.
“It’s nothing new,” Sheinbaum said, adding that familiarly would aid in Mexico’s response. “That’s important to recognize.”
Mexican citizens in the United States facing forced expulsion under Trump’s vowed mass deportation plans would be provided legal and other assistance — and would be in line for financial, logistical and other aid if returned to Mexico, Sheinbaum vowed.
Mexicans in the U.S. should know they “are not alone,” Sheinbaum said. “They are heroes and heroines of la patria,” she said. “That is how we are going to treat them.”
The millions of Mexicans residing in the United States are also pillars of the Mexican economy, sending home more than $60 billion annually to relatives and others. A large-scale deportation could be a major blow to Mexico’s already fragile economy.
But the president again expressed the hope — which some analysts call illusory — that immigrant contributions would temper Trump’s deportation agenda. “Mexicans in the United States sustain a good part of the [U.S.] economy,” Sheinbaum said.
Among Trump’s most provocative actions was an executive order saying that the U.S. would designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. But Sheinbaum downplayed widespread fears in Mexico that the decree could lead to unilateral U.S. military actions.
Sheinbaum said that officials in new U.S. administration should work with with Mexico on binational security concerns. “They can and should act in their territory” she said, noting that organized crime also operates in the United States. “They in their territory, we in our territory.”
“We all want to combat drug cartels, that is obvious,” Sheinbaum said. “We have to coordinate efforts, collaborate.”
Sheinbaum was equally circumspect on the 25% tariffs Trump has vowed to impose on Mexican imports if the country fails to stop U.S.-bound traffic of drugs and migrants.
Her government, Sheinbaum said, would commence “dialogue” on the matter with Trump, who has set Feb. 1 as a likely target date for imposing the tariffs. She made no mention of previous comments that Mexico would be forced to impose retaliatory tariffs should Trump proceed.
“It’s very important that everyone, the media, the people of Mexico, business leaders — everyone — that they remain calm and united,” Sheinbaum said. “Evaluating step by step, without getting ahead of ourselves.”
Mexico’s export-oriented economy is closely tied to the United States, which is the destination of more than 80% of the country’s exports.
Arrivals at the border are the lowest they’ve been since incoming President Trump first left office in 2021.
On the immigration front, Sheinbaum again stressed how Mexican enforcement had helped reduce illicit crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border to the lowest levels in years. Mexico reported a record 1 million detentions of illegal immigrants last year, sending most migrants back to southern Mexico.
“No caravan has arrived,” Sheinbaum boasted, referring to organized groups of migrants who have set off from southern Mexico for U.S. territory, only to be thwarted by Mexican authorities.
During his first term in office, Trump launched Remain in Mexico as a means to deter illegal immigration, eventually forcing more than 60,000 people — mostly Central Americans and Cubans — to await U.S. court hearings on the Mexican side. Many asylum seekers sent back to Mexico became victims of kidnapping, extortion and other abuses at the hands of organized crime groups.
Mexico, which is under no legal obligation to take back noncitizens, agreed to do so under pressure from Trump’s first administration.
Mexico’s president pokes fun at Trump’s suggestion to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
This time, it appears, no U.S. arm-twisting will be needed. Mexico will cooperate, Sheinbaum said, but would seek U.S. financial aid to help cover the costs of repatriating third-country nationals.
She did have one light moment talking about Trump’s executive orders. As a Spanish-language version of Trump’s executive order on “RESTORING NAMES THAT HONOR AMERICAN GREATNESS” was projected on the wall, she referred to Trump’s proclamation to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
Sheinbaum laughed. He can call it what he likes, she said.
“For us it will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico,” the president said. “And for the whole world, it will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico.”
Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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