Trump and Peña Nieto clash on the wall issue
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said the president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, lied about the border wall during the meeting both held in Mexico City on August 31.
The controversy surfaced during an interview with ABC News published on Wednesday, September 7, by The Washington Post. The interviewer was journalist David Muir. To read the full interview, click here.
Muir began by pointing out to Trump: “You just traveled to Mexico and you said shortly after that you and the Mexican president did not discuss who would pay for the wall. And then afterward the president of Mexico said it was discussed and that he said Mexico will not pay for it.”
What was the correct version?
“The fact is Mexico will pay for the wall, it was discussed that it wouldn’t be discussed but they know my stance and I know their stance. […] My stance is we’re going to build a wall and Mexico’s going to pay for the wall. It’s very simple.”
On the evening of August 31, Peña Nieto had issued a tweet that said, “At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”
When Muir asked if Peña Nieto had broken his word by saying something that had undertaken not to say, Trump repeated that “they know my stance and I know their stance. See who wins in the end. We’ll win, 100 percent, they’re going to pay for the wall.
“We’re going to build a wall, they’re going to pay for the wall, we’re going to keep drugs out, we’re going to keep the people that– we have gangs, we have gang leaders. We have drug kings. We have all of these people flowing into our country, all of those people are going to get out. We’re gonna get ‘em out. We’re gonna stop the flow of drugs into our country.”
Why will the Mexicans pay for the wall?
“Mexico will pay for the wall, 100 percent and it’s easy because they’re making so much money,” said Trump. Mexicans “are taking our jobs. Drugs are pouring across the border. They make a fortune off the United States. Both at the border and with jobs.”
A brief compliment and back on the attack.
“And I like them very much, I get along very well with the president. Very, very well. I think we’ll have a very good relationship, but Mexico will pay for the wall.”
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to build a tremendously strong and powerful border. People are going to come in, but they’re going to come in legally. We’re going to get rid of all of the bads: the gang members, the drug lords and all of the different people that are here and that shouldn’t be here. We’re gonna clean things up.
“Once we have a secure border — totally secure — we’re going to take a look at the people that you’re talking about. We’re going to look at it from where our country is, from where we stand in the world, from how we’re doing as a country. We’re going to take a very good, strong, hard look at the people that remained.”
“What’s going to happen is, if you’re going to be a citizen, you’re going to leave and you’re going to have to come back. […] I want people to come into the country, but they have to do it through a legal process. They have to do it legally.”
That process already exists and is called “self-deportation”.
Currently, Trump continued, “the only people that come into this country are the people that pour in. They just pour in. and many of these people are now member of the gangs and they’re now selling drugs all over the country.”
“We have perhaps millions of people who have records, criminals. We’re going to end sanctuary cities where they see people are protected. They’re swaddled, they’re protected. We can’t do that anymore.”
Peña Nieto has been heavily criticized by many of his countrymen for having invited Trump to Mexico and having treated him with deference. To read more about this in Progreso Weekly, click here.
