Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dismissed U.S. President Joe Biden's suggestion that he would close the border with Mexico if given the power to do so, saying it is "demagogic."
"It is very demagogic, the position that we are going to close the borders," Lopez Obrador said Monday during a televised morning press conference.
His criticism follows remarks Biden made over the weekend in which he said said he would shut down the border "right now" if Congress passed a proposed border deal that would also unlock money for Ukraine.
Biden said a supplemental budget request he made to Congress late last year would "give me, as president, the emergency authority to shut down the border until it can get back under control."
"If that bill were the law today, I'd shut down the border right now and fix it quickly," he said.
As he focuses on his 2024 reelection campaign and defending his record to voters, Biden has been facing criticism from his Republican rivals over his immigration policies amid a dramatic spike in migration at the southern border.
The U.S. Senate has yet to sign a new border deal which, according to Biden, would entail "the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we've ever had in our country."
By the end of December, over 10,000 migrants were reportedly crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on a daily basis. The spike in migration flows has led to a clash between U.S. political parties, with Democrats and Republicans debating over control of the border.
The immigration crisis has led to a crisis between the federal government and state authorities in Texas led by its Republican governor, Greg Abbott, who has called the growing influx of migrants an invasion and has erected razor-wire fencing in defiance of the Supreme Court and the Biden administration.
With roughly 1,931 kilometers (1,200 miles) of the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, the state is a key access point for migrants. The Republican Party and leading figures such as former President Donald Trump have supported Abbott and called for stringent anti-migration laws.
While critical of Biden's pledge to shut down the border, Lopez Obrador still supports him.
"I have a lot of respect for President Biden, He has behaved very well. President Trump also did before. We understand the circumstances, but imagine closing the border!... One could not think that this is a solution," he said.
