AMLO Won’t Play Ball

“I know that your adversaries–the conservatives–are going to be screaming all over the place, even to Heaven.”

Thus spoke Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, during his July 12 White House visit, as he urged his U.S. counterpart to regularize all illegal migrants in Gringolandia. AMLO made it clear that the U.S. must open its doors to more immigration as the top priority of his White House visit. Biden will discover that AMLO did not speak one word about the urgent need for U.S.-Mexican border security cooperation.

It is not surprising that AMLO would warn President Biden of conservatives, as he was a Latin American leftist student. With remarkably little international experience and speaking no English, the 68-year-old AMLO no doubt formed his view of American conservatives in the 1960s, reading anti-U.S. leftwing intellectuals such as Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is completely beyond his comprehension why American conservatives defend the rule of law in opposition to presidential fiat.

AMLO advised that President Obama take more executive-level lawlessness on immigration. It was certainly well received. But Biden did not comment on it. Biden, aware of all the political pressure he’s taking over the border crisis, sought out public support from AMLO to address the raging wreck that is U.S-Mexican Security Cooperation. AMLO refused to support him.

The border crisis was directly addressed by President Biden in his public comments.

President Biden addressed directly the border crisis in his public remarks.

But, when it was his turn, Biden had nothing to do with Biden’s points. Biden refused to discuss illegal immigration or drug trafficking. Washington is the only country he mentioned. He has been destroying the U.S. and striking even in the homeland.

AMLO is not acknowledging Biden’s remarks about law enforcement or calling for cooperation. This is sad. Mexico has been in criminal turmoil for three years now under AMLO’s leadership. There is no prospect of U.S. and Mexican cooperation at our shared border.

When Biden announced his commitment to spend $3.4 billion on construction projects at U.S. ports of entry on the border, the Mexican president skipped right past the opening, declining to mention his country’s pledge, supposedly worked out between the diplomats, to invest $1.5 billion on Mexican border infrastructure between 2022 and 2024. It is unlikely that Mexico City will fulfill such a promise, according to observers. This was a “deliverable” that the presidential advance teams had negotiated, which would be lost later. However, AMLO wouldn’t give Biden this.

Despite the White House spin, border infrastructure is not the same thing as border security. In the U.S.-Mexican border context, serious border security means aggressive law enforcement cooperation against cartels, their agents and all other large-scale criminal activities. Politicians are reluctant or unable to confront the cartels and instead talk about infrastructure. Except if the politician is AMLO.

None expects that the Mexican president will highlight his country’s problems while on a state trip abroad. Mexicans pride themselves on their nation and are cautious about showing weakness in Washington. A serious leader would, however, at the very least, acknowledge and address challenges. He or she could also propose real policies. AMLO seems so unconcerned and hopeless that it makes Biden seem like a borderhawk.

A dissident of all Biden wanted to hear, AMLO made a long statement at the White House. He hinted about bilateral grievances past (obligatory Mexican leaders) as well FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy. Covid, inflation, energy production and the bracero programme were all mentioned by him. He also spoke out about the threat from China, Ukraine and the necessity for more U.S. visas. He didn’t mention the border security challenges or rampant criminality which are ruining his patriotic Mexico and putting at risk the United States.

Amlo revealed how ignorant he was of the country he lives in, broaching the topic of the rising gasoline prices in America and claiming that he could offer Biden a lower pump price in Mexico.

AMLO, the Mexican President, stated that a large number of drivers, including many Americans, are going to Mexico to obtain their fuel.

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AMLO and his advisors are so unconcerned with the criminal threats on the frontier that they somehow believe Americans are casually driving into dangerous Mexican border communities like El Paso-Juarez, Laredo-Nuevo Laredo, and Brownsville-Matamoros to fill up on gas. He doesn’t seem to understand the realities of life at the border or the hardships that people in the same country must live with.

All indications point to worsening relations with the large neighbor in our southern region. U.S. General Glen VanHerck, commander of NorthCom, asserts that up to 35 percent of Mexican territory is either cartel-controlled or a region in which organized criminals act with impunity. This can’t go on for too long. The numbers of Mexicans illegally entering the U.S. has been declining for many years. However, the number has begun to rise again after AMLO was elected. We are on the verge of another wave of illegal Mexican immigration as more people flee lawless areas.