A top Republican has provoked a diplomatic spat with Mexico after saying their citizens would eat “cat food” without the United States.
Senator John Kennedy was branded a “racist” by the Mexican government after his explosive remarks about its handling of the drug trade.
The Louisiana legislator said the Biden administration could use troops to invade and break up the cartels because Mexico was so dependent on US trade.
“Without the people of America, Mexico would, figuratively speaking, eat cat food from a can and live in a tent,” Kennedy said.
Our economy is $23 trillion. Mexico’s economy is 1.3 trillion. Ours is eighteen times bigger. We buy $400 billion from Mexico every year,” he added.
The 71-year-old was grilling Anne Milgram, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, about her efforts to prevent lethal doses of fentayl from entering the US on Wednesday.
“So why don’t you and the president get on the phone and we call President (Andres Manuel) López Obrador and make a deal with him that he can’t refuse to allow our military and law enforcement to enter Mexico and to stop the cartels,’ he asked Milgram
Kennedy’s comments to a Senate committee on federal spending sparked outrage in Mexico, with both the president and secretary of state lashing out.
Mexico’s top diplomat Marcelo Ebrard said Republicans deliberately fomented hatred ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“What’s behind these ideas and those who promote them,” Ebrard said. “Racism against Mexicans, and against all Spanish speakers in general.”
Meanwhile, the country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, told Mexicans in the US to vote out those members of Congress with such views.
“Tell our compatriots, Hispanics, our American friends not to vote for people with this very arrogant, very offensive and very foolish mentality,” he said.
The row exploded when Republicans in the House of Representatives signed a bill that would revive Donald Trump’s now-abolished border wall.
The bill, narrowly passed by lawmakers on Thursday, also calls for the hiring of 22,000 new border guards to prevent migrants from sneaking into the US
The so-called Secure the Border of Act, which makes it more difficult for them to apply for asylum, has little chance of becoming law.
Democrats control the Senate, the upper house of Congress, where it will almost certainly be voted down.
The White House also warned that Joe Biden will use his presidential veto to kill any law it manages to push through.
It’s in response to the expiration of a Covid-era emergency law known as Title 42 that made it easier to boot asylum seekers without even hearing their case.
Title 42 had been used by ex-President Donald Trump to deport migrants at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic on public health grounds.
It lapsed because Joe Biden had decided to end Covid-19 emergency legislation despite Republican calls to renew those powers.
Border union officials say detention centers are already overcrowded, adding pressure to the Biden administration.
Although a deal has already been made with Mexico to take back Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have had their asylum applications rejected.
Border shelters in El Paso, Texas are already overwhelmed by the large numbers of migrants entering and some are forced to sleep on the streets.
The border town is one of many to have declared a state of emergency.
Last week, a top government watchdog released a shocking report that painted a bleak picture of how border officials are handling it.
The Inspector General’s Office said border troops are struggling to deal with the increased number of migrants due to low staffing levels.
Researchers warned that border and immigration officials may retire early or retire unless working conditions improve quickly.
According to a government investigation, the main US border agency is understaffed and has low morale
The Biden administration had vowed to set up processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia to stem the flow of arrivals
There are some 24,000 law enforcement officers stationed along the 3,000-mile southwestern border with Mexico.
Another 1,500 troops are being sent to support US Customs and Border Protection and the 2,500 National Guard troops are already there.
At least 2.3 million migrants tried to enter the United States illegally through the Mexican border last year, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
That’s more than 1.7 million people in 2021 and just over 450,000 the year before, when much of the world went into lockdown during the pandemic