MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday that the country’s immigration plan had reduced the flow of undocumented migrants crossing the country towards the U.S. border by 56% between May and August.
Speaking at a regular government news conference alongside President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Ebrard said Mexico would keep investing in social programs in the south as well as in countries of origin Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
“This reduction of 56% in the flow of migrants is a result of diverse measures that the government has taken, in compliance with the Mexican migration law,” he said, adding that there had been only seven official complaints about human rights violations.
Ebrard said he would travel to Washington to discuss the progress of the program on Monday.
In June, Mexico and the United States struck a deal to avert a tariff war, with Mexico agreeing to rapidly expand an asylum program and deploy security forces to curb illegal immigration from Central America.
U.S. President Donald Trump had been threatening to impose 5% import tariffs on all Mexican goods if Mexico did not commit to do more to tighten its borders and stop the flow of undocumented migrants seeking to cross into the United States.
