MEXICO CITY — On Mexican soil for the first time as the Republican presidential nominee, a firm but measured Donald Trump defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank, standing up for the centerpiece of his immigration plan in a country where he is widely despised.
Trump, who previously derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals, praised Mexicans on Wednesday as “amazing people” following a closed-door meeting at the official residence of the country’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto.
The trip, 10 weeks before America’s presidential election day, came just hours before Trump was to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Arizona about illegal immigration.
With political risks high for both men, Trump stayed on script, declining to repeat his promise to force Mexico to pay for a wall along the border between the two countries when pressed by reporters.
Trump’s presence on Wednesday, his first meeting with a head of state abroad as a presidential candidate, sparked anger and protests across Mexico’s capital city.
After saying during his Republican primary campaign he would use a “deportation force” to expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally, Trump suggested last week he could soften that stance.
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, told CBS earlier in the day that Trump would make clear that there will be no path to legalization, no path to citizenship.
Trump has promised, if elected, to deport millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, force Mexico to pay for the construction of a wall to secure the nearly 2,000-mile border and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to make it more favorable to the United States.
Peña Nieto has been sharply critical of Trump’s immigration policies, particularly the Republican’s plans to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it.
