Accusing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis of using the subject of illegal immigration as a political weapon, Mexico’s leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has called for Hispanics to vote against the Republican candidate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
At a government press conference on Thursday, AMLO criticized DeSantis for “playing politics” with the lives of illegal immigrants. DeSantis had declared his presidential candidacy the day before.
He wanted to be the Republican Party candidate, AMLO claimed, so he played politics with immigration. He said Hispanics should not back those who persecute migrants because a migrant – as it says in the Bible – deserves respect.
AMLO also criticized DeSantis and the Republican Party, calling them hypocritical because they benefit from the cheap labor of illegal immigrants. He also criticized those who advocate closing the border between the United States and Mexico to stop the flow of narcotics that continues to take lives and cause widespread destruction across the country.
DeSantis, in a Wednesday night broadcast on Twitter Spaces with CEO Elon Musk that was marred by technical difficulties, vowed to make good on President Trump’s promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
He blasted the “absolutely insane system” that allows illegal immigrants to just show up at the southern border, get a paper sheet, and enter the United States before a court date.
On day one, said DeSantis, we will move by declaring a national emergency. He said he would build a wall on the border.
Additionally, DeSantis spoke on the “need to hold the Mexican drug cartels accountable,” claiming that the cartels were utilizing illegal immigration as a weapon.
While AMLO and Trump disagree on many issues, rumors about their cordial friendship have circulated. The allegations brought against the former president by New York prosecutors were denounced by him last month, and he called them a “degradation of due respect for the law.”
The Mexican president’s intervention in the election is not unprecedented. Former Mexican president Vicente Fox told journalist Jorge Ramos in 2016: “I’m not going to pay for that f***ing wall.” This was in response to Trump’s suggestion that Mexico pay for the border wall. Disaster is certain if a madman is trusted with power in the United States.
