On Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked Democrat President Joe Biden for being the first U.S. President “in a very long time” to refuse to build “even one meter” of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The comments from AMLO — as the Mexican President is known — come as the United States face a record breaking illegal immigration crisis at its border with Mexico.
“We have said this and I repeat it today — I insist on this: You, President Biden, you are the first President of the United States in a very long time that has not built not even one meter of wall. And we thank you for that, sir, although some might not like it — although the conservatives don’t like it,” AMLO said during a joint press conference with the leaders of the three North American countries.
WATCH: AMLO thanks Biden for being "the first President of the United States in a very long time that has not built…not even one meter of (border) wall …. Although some might not like it- although the conservatives don't like it." pic.twitter.com/XtPdj38aZv
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 11, 2023
AMLO was mostly correct in thanking Biden for refusing to secure the border through continuing to build the wall. Although the United States has filled in some gaps in the existing wall since 2021, Biden issued an executive order during his first day in office that ending additional border wall construction.
“Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats,” Biden said in his executive order. “But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution. It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.”
“It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” he added.
Biden then quickly worked to dismantle other border security policies put in place by the Trump administration. The United States subsequently experienced a record-breaking surge in illegal immigration across its southern border as border officials encountered 1,734,686 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border in fiscal year 2021. That record was shattered in fiscal year 2022 as border officials encountered a new record of 2,378,944 migrants.
