The Mexican government is working on a plan to deal with possible mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump, a presidential spokesman says.
In a news conference Monday, Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, told reporters deportations would be part of any agenda discussed by Peña Nieto and Trump.
“We will have to see how many of those deportations, usually done by the United States government to the countries where the illegal immigrants are from, are for Mexico,” he said.
“Of course this and other matters will be part of the agenda that Mexico brings to the table during the bilateral meetings that will take place with the government-elect of President(-elect) Donald Trump.”
Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz is coordinating the efforts, he added, and plans to have a series of measures ready should the deportations begin.
President-elect threatens mass deportation
During a CBS “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday, Trump said he would look to deport, or incarcerate, up to 3 million illegal immigrants.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we’re going to incarcerate.
“But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”
Trump added: “we want to secure our border.”
Peña Nieto has expressed interested in meeting with Trump before he takes office on January 20. This would be the second meeting between the two.
Meanwhile, Peña Nieto spoke by phone Monday with outgoing US President Barack Obama on progress in the bilateral relationship between the two countries, including economic growth, combating organized crime, and migration, a statement read.
The statement says “the Mexican president expressed his appreciation to President Obama for being a great friend and ally of Mexico, as well as a committed partner.
“For his part, President Obama stressed how much the United States values, and depends on, the relationship and collaboration with Mexico.”
