Trump says Mexican president ‘lacks respect’ for Biden after demanding $20 billion a year in aid for Latin American and Caribbean in exchange to help halt illegal migrants surge

Donald Trump has claimed Mexico’s president has no respect for President Biden after asking for $20 billion just to talk, as part of a series of bizarre requests that critics have called “diplomatic blackmail.”

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday night, Trump hinted that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan to ask for money just to speak to Biden is a sign of Biden’s weakness.

“He said he wants $10 billion, basically just to talk, $10 billion to talk. That wouldn’t happen to me, with the wall,” Trump boasted.

Earlier this year, Obrador suggested that the Mexican government would work to support U.S. efforts to curb the wave of illegal migrants, but only if certain bizarre conditions were met.

Obrador wants the United States to respond by sending $20 billion in taxpayer money annually in aid to Latin America and the Caribbean to tackle the so-called “root causes” of migration.

“We are not going to close our border until you change your policy on Cuba and your policy on Venezuela,” journalist Brian Kilmeade reminded viewers of what Obrador had suggested before asking Trump: “Is it OK for the Mexican president to dictate ? American policy?’

“It’s very simple: disrespect for the president. They would never say that to me. They would never say it before we even talked. They want $10 billion a year, Mexico just asked for $10 billion a year. They would never ask. I wouldn’t give them 10 cents,” Trump continued.

Aside from the $20 billion in aid, Obrador wants Biden to lift sanctions on communist Cuba and Venezuela’s socialist government, as well as grant amnesty and legal status to “millions of law-abiding Mexicans living in the US.”

Obrador, who realizes he has leverage over Biden as immigration is a key concern in this year’s US elections, has suggested the “flow of migrants will continue” unless the US meets his demands.

Obrador has explained such ideas as saying he “spoke openly” because “we have to say things as they are – and I always say what I feel.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said the US could even force Mexico to comply with US immigration policies, but the comments only further irritated Obrador.

‘We are not a colony. We are not a protectorate of any other country,” Obrador responded as he appeared CBS. “And we have a very good relationship with the United States government – ​​but not one of subordination.”

Mexico has somehow cracked down on immigration in recent months — at the behest of the Biden administration, hitting Venezuelans especially hard.

The development highlights the U.S.’s dependence on Mexico to control migration, which has reached unprecedented levels and is a top issue for voters as Biden seeks re-election in November.

Arrests of migrants for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen so far this year after hitting a record high in December.

The biggest decline was among Venezuelans, whose arrests fell from 49,717 in December to 3,184 in February and 4,422 in January.

While two months does not represent a trend and the number of illegal crossings remains high by historical standards, Mexico’s strategy of keeping migrants closer to its southern border with Guatemala than the U.S. is at least a temporary relief for the Biden administration.

Large numbers of Venezuelans began reaching the US in 2021, first by flying to Mexico and then by foot and bus after Mexico imposed visa restrictions.

Last September, Venezuelans briefly replaced Mexicans as the largest nationality crossing the border.

Mexico’s efforts included expelling migrants from trains, flying and busing them to the southern part of the country, and flying some to Venezuela.

Since its launch in January 2023, more than 500,000 migrants have used the CBP One app to enter the US through land crossings with Mexico.

They can stay in the US for two years under a presidential authority called parole, which gives them the right to work.

The US admits 1,450 people daily through CBP One with appointments granted two weeks later.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has touted his own efforts to explain the recent reduction in illegal border crossings in his state, where at least 95 percent of Border Patrol arrests of Venezuelans occur.

These included installing razor wire, erecting a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and making plans to build a new base for National Guard members.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has largely credited Mexico for the drop in border arrests.