MEXICO CITY — Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Mexico on Friday to fulfill with President Claudia Sheinbaum and members of her Cupboard in a fragile second in U.S.-Mexico relations.
Noem got here to the Mexican capital on the ultimate leg of a three-nation Latin American journey that included stops in Colombia and El Salvador.
It’s Noem’s first official journey to a area that has drawn intense Trump administration scrutiny as a result of of its connections to pivotal points — immigration, drug trafficking and commerce.
Noem and Sheinbaum and her workforce met for greater than two hours on the Nationwide Palace, Mexican media reported, however no particulars have been instantly accessible on what they mentioned.
Noem’s three-nation swing, authorities stated, centered on efforts to thwart illicit immigration, goal transnational prison teams and fight smuggling of illicit medication, together with fentanyl, the artificial opioid blamed for tens of 1000’s of deaths in the US.
Mexico is a manufacturing web site for U.S.-bound fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and different medication. The nation can also be a significant main transit zone for South American cocaine destined for the voracious U.S. market.
Earlier than assembly with Noem, Sheinbaum advised reporters she would inform the U.S. safety chief in regards to the “coordination and collaboration” that her administration has embarked upon with Washington.
Sheinbaum has launched a safety offensive that has seen the arrest of a whole lot of suspected drug smugglers and producers, the takedowns of quite a few clandestine labs, and file seizures of fentanyl and different medication.
She has additionally dispatched greater than two dozen alleged drug lords to the US to face justice, bypassing common extradition procedures, and dispatched 10,000 troops to Mexico’s northern border to assist deter unlawful immigration and smuggling.
Whereas Trump has praised Sheinbaum’s efforts, bilateral relations between the 2 North American neighbors are enduring a tense time.
Sheinbaum is desperately searching for to go off Trump’s plans to impose punishing tariffs on Mexican imports to the US. Mexico’s economic system, mired in sluggish development and lagging investor confidence, is closely depending on cross-border commerce — and the US receives greater than 80% of its exports. Many forecaster say the tariffs might plunge Mexico right into a recession.
Trump has stated he intends subsequent week to institute a 25% tariff on automobiles and auto elements imported from all international locations, together with Mexico. Sheinbaum is pushing for a broad exemption for all Mexican auto-sector imports below phrases of United States-Mexico-Canada Settlement, the free-trade pact that went into impact in 2020, throughout Trump’s first presidential time period.
“This integration has existed for many years,” Sheinbaum stated in her common each day information convention earlier than assembly with the U.S. homeland safety chief. “It’s evident that any tariff will have an effect on this integration that we’ve got and each economies. It impacts the US and it impacts Mexico.”
Mexico’s booming auto-industry vegetation — producing automobiles, parts and elements largely for export to the US — make use of greater than 1 million individuals. Consultants say the provision of auto-industry jobs has been a key consider dissuading many Mexicans from immigrating to the US.
Whereas migration was on the desk within the Noem-Sheinbaum assembly, it’s not clear if tariffs have been mentioned.
One other delicate bilateral situation facilities on the Trump administration’s resolution to designate a half-dozen Mexican prison cartels as overseas terrorist organizations. Mexico opposed the transfer, which many right here view right here as a prelude to a possible unilateral U.S. assault on cartel strongholds — an motion that will make sure you spur a robust nationalist backlash in a rustic that has traditionally suffered a number of U.S. invasions, although none in additional than a century.
Absent on Noem’s go to to Mexico was any public sighting of her $50,000 Rolex, an 18-karat gold watch that drew consideration and criticism Wednesday whereas she toured a infamous mega-prison in El Salvador.
Contained in the penitentiary, with a backdrop of closely tattooed prisoners stacked behind bars, Noem went on X to ship a warning.
“President Trump and I’ve a transparent message to prison unlawful aliens: LEAVE NOW,” she wrote. “If you don’t go away, we are going to hunt you down, arrest and, and you could possibly finish on this El Salvadorian jail.”
The Trump administration is dealing with a courtroom problem about its resolution to invoke an 18th century legislation, beforehand solely employed in wartime, to deport scores of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, the place they have been dispatched to the mega-prison often called the Terrorism Confinement Middle.
Kin of and attorneys for the expelled Venezuelans say U.S. authorities put aside due course of and relied on flimsy proof — together with tattoos and social media posts — to designate the migrants as members of the Tren de Aragua gang and fly them to El Salvador.
In El Salvador, Noem dodged questions on whether or not Venezuelans would be capable of go away the Salvadoran lockup or if they might be introduced again to the US, if a decide have been to order their return.
“We’re going to let the courts play out,” Noem advised reporters.
Particular correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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