A top Republican has sparked a diplomatic row with Mexico after he said their citizens would be ‘eating cat food’ without the United States.
Senator John Kennedy was labelled as a ‘racist’ by the Mexican government after his explosive remarks on how to crack down on drug trafficking.
The Louisiana lawmaker said the Biden administration could use troops to swoop in and break up the cartels because Mexico was so dependent on U.S. trade.
‘Without the people of America, Mexico, figuratively speaking, would be eating cat food out of a can and living 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 every year from Mexico,’ he added.
The 71-year-old was grilling Drug Enforcement Agency chief Anne Milgram on her efforts to stop deadly fentayl doses entering the U.S. on Wednesday.
‘So why don’t you and the president get on the phone and call President (Andres Manuel) López Obrador and make him a deal he can’t refuse to allow our military and our law enforcement officials to go into Mexico and work with his to stop the cartels,’ he asked Milgram
Kennedy’s comments to a Senate committee on federal spending sparked outrage in Mexico, with both the country’s president and foreign minister lashing out.
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrado urged Hispanics in the U.S. to vote out Republicans like Kennedy who he said hold ‘very offensive’ views
Mexico’s top diplomat Marcelo Ebrard said Republicans were deliberately stirring up hatred before the presidential election in 2024.
‘What is behind these ideas and those who promote them,’ Ebrard said. ‘Racism against Mexicans, and in general all Spanish-speakers.’
Meanwhile, the country’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador told Mexicans in the U.S. to vote out those members of Congress with such views.
‘Tell our countrymen, Hispanics, our American friends, not to vote for people with this very arrogant, very offensive and very foolish mentality,’ he said.
The spat blew up as Republicans in the House of Representatives signed off on a draft law that would revive Donald Trump’s now-axed border wall.
The bill, narrowly passed by lawmakers on Thursday, also calls for the hiring of 22,000 new border patrol agents to stop migrants sneaking into the U.S.
The so-called Secure the Border of Act, which makes it more difficult for them to claim asylum, stands little chance of becoming law.
Democrats control the Senate, the upper house of Congress, where it is almost certain to be voted down.
The White House also warned that Joe Biden will wield his presidential veto to kill the bill it manages to squeeze through.
It is a response to the expiry of a Covid-era emergency law, known as Title 42, that made it easier to boot out asylum-seekers without even hearing their case.
Title 42 had been used by ex-president Donald Trump to expel migrants at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic on public health grounds.
It lapsed because Joe Biden had decided to end the Covid-19 emergency legislation despite Republican calls to renew those powers.
Border union officials say detention facilities are already overcrowded, piling more pressure on the Biden administration.
Although a deal has already been struck with Mexico to take back Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who see their asylum claims rejected.
Border shelters in El Paso, Texas are already being overwhelmed by the vast numbers of migrants coming in with some being forced to sleep on the streets.
The frontier town is one of many that has declared a state of emergency.
Migrants have been waiting at the southwestern border waiting for Title 42 to expire before sneaking into the U.S.
Border patrol guards are said to be suffering from low staffing levels and weak morale due to the sheer numbers of people crossing
Last week, a top government accountability watchdog released a bombshell report that painted a bleak picture of how border officials are coping.
The Office of the Inspector General said border forces are struggling to handle the increased numbers of migrants due to low staffing levels.
Investigators warned that border and immigration officials may end up quitting or retiring early unless working conditions improve quickly.
There are some 24,000 law enforcement officers stationed along the 1,951-mile southwestern border with Mexico.
An additional 1,500 troops are being sent to back up U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the 2,500 National Guard troops are already there.
At least 2.3 million migrants tried to illegally cross into the United States across the Mexican border last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
That is up from 1.7 million people in 2021 and just over 450,000 the previous year when much of the world was locked down during the pandemic.
