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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wields a lot of influence when it comes to curbing migrants illegally crossing the U.S. southern border. And as he made clear in a recent “60 Minutes” interview, he believes that power should be Mexico’s to decide when to use.
Specifically, López Obrador defended his country’s sovereignty in response to hearing House Speaker Mike Johnson say recently that the U.S. could force Mexico to comply with American immigration policy.
“We are not a colony. We are not a protectorate of any foreign country,” López Obrador said through an interpreter to correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi in an interview earlier this month. “And we have a very good relationship with the government of the United States — but not one of subordination.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for President Biden to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. While speaking to reporters last month, the Louisiana Republican recalled a conversation he had with Biden, in which Johnson urged him to reestablish the Trump-era policy and said it could potentially control the flow of migrants illegally entering the U.S.
“‘Well, Mexico doesn’t want that,'” Johnson recalled the president answering.
“Mr. President,” Johnson said he replied, “we’re the United States. Mexico will do what we say.”
Former President Trump instated the Remain in Mexico policy, or Migrant Protection Protocols, in 2019. The program mandated that U.S. border officials return non-Mexican asylum seekers to Mexico, where they would wait for months — or even years — for their immigration cases to clear U.S. immigration courts. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 ruled 5-4 to rescind the policy.
In contrast to Johnson, López Obrador told “60 Minutes” that Biden has been respectful of Mexico’s sovereignty.
“Every time I speak with President Biden, the first thing he says to me is that our relationship must be on an equal footing,” López Obrador said.
Other American politicians, however, have not understood this relationship, he said. Instead, they have heaped blame on Mexico for the migration challenge at the border, rather than reaching agreements and addressing what he sees as the root of the issue.
López Obrador also issued a critical assessment of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whom he accessed of engaging in opportunism and “cheap politicking” with the border.
Two American politicians the Mexican president offered equal compliments for are the two men whose names are likely to be on the presidential ballot this fall. While López Obrador will not be in office when Americans go to the polls in November — his own six-year term is up in September — his attitude toward both Biden and Trump suggests he wants to keep Mexico on good footing with Washington, no matter who wins the White House.
“President Trump, like President Biden, has been very respectful. Both of them,” López Obrador said. “We have had differences, but we have been able to put first the general interest of both peoples, the people of the United States and the people of Mexico.”
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
