AMLO dismissed Trump's statement about the wall: "It's election time in the U.S."

President Donald Trump said from New Jersey that Mexico is paying for the border fence between both countries, a statement that was dismissed Wednesday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who reminded the audience that these are election times in the U.S.

"Love and peace," replied the Mexican president when questioned at his morning press conference on this issue, saying that he will not enter into confrontations with his U.S. counterpart. "I am only going to say that they are in an electoral context".

He also insisted that his strategy on the southern border is not to create a wall with the National Guard, since Mexico is offering shelter and work to the immigrants. "The law is only being enforced so that there is an orderly registration and transit. The problem is solved without violence. Human rights have been respected and given attention, but we have to have control to protect them," he insisted.

Demands for the removal of Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas

The arrival of new migrant caravans to Mexico's southern border opens up new conflicts for the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Now at the center of the conversation are criticisms of an order that prohibits the entry of NGOs to migrant stations, issued by the National Institute of Migration (INM), but unknown to the Secretariat of the Interior and to López Obrador himself.

The instruction was made known Tuesday, broadcast on the social media of the INM, in a document also stamped under the logo of the Secretariat of the Interior. However, hours later, the secretariat headed by Olga Sánchez Cordero dismissed the document.

In his morning press conference, the president stated that his motto is "it is forbidden to forbid" and questioned: "How can they imagine that we are going to leave religious people, members of civil society, social organizations without being able to attend a shelter? No!".

Faced with the contradictions between the INM and the Interior, the president pointed out that there are still " inertia" from previous administrations, where the institute was widely questioned for corrupt practices.

On Wednesday, Father Alejandro Solalinde, who in the last years has been one of the most prominent defenders of the rights of migrants, spoke out against this decision and questioned the work of Interior undersecretary Encinas: "We have to rethink the permanence in the Secretariat of the Interior of people who may be inept and incapable, like Alejandro Encinas," he said in an interview with Radio Fórmula.

Solalinde said that the INM does not govern itself, and in his opinion, this order had to come from the Interior. He also criticized Encinas for not being able to attend human rights and immigration issues because "he is not trained for that".

The father has been a vocal ally of López Obrador, and caused a great deal of controversy when he declared in an interview with the newspaper El Universal that the motives of migrants are now "geopolitical, and they are trying to overthrow the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador". A statement that contrasts with the strong support he showed in Enrique Peña Nieto's administration for undocumented migrants who mainly come from Central America.

This time around, however, he is more harsh, since in addition to the accusations against Encinas, he also questioned the country's role vis-à-vis the United States, following Trump's words.

"Sad is the situation in Mexico, caught in the grip of Trump's humiliations and the pressure of the caravan owners. The cherry on top is the lack of public policies on immigration that respect the human rights of the migrant population without restrictions".