Mexican Gov’t Offers Texas Assistance ‘As Good Neighbors Should Always Do’

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto holds a press conference at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. Pena Nieto said Monday that Mexico's attitude towards the Donald Trump adminis... Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto holds a press conference at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. Pena Nieto said Monday that Mexico's attitude towards the Donald Trump administration should not be aggressive or biased, but one of dialogue. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) MORE LESS
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The Mexican government on Sunday offered aid to Texas and expressed solidarity with the United States amid ongoing rescue efforts and massive destruction in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) by phone that Mexico offered solidarity and aid “as good neighbors should always do in trying times.”

“As we have done in the past, Mexico stands with Texas in this difficult moment,” Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the Mexican consul general in Austin, said.

Gutierrez told the Dallas Morning News that he was in communication with Abbott’s office to determine what aid would be most helpful.

President Donald Trump on Sunday punctuated his praise of rescue workers in Texas with reiterated campaign promises, including that Mexico would pay for his proposed wall on the United States’ southern border “through reimbursement/other.”

Abbott in December said it was “clear” Trump “was elected partly on his platform to secure the border” and said he hoped Trump “accomplishes his goals,” only specifically condemning the construction of a physical barrier in some regions on the border.

“There are serpentine regions of the Rio Grande where it would be extremely challenging to build a wall,” Abbott said. “There are parts like the Big Bend region – we don’t want see a wall in the beautiful Big Bend National Park.”

The Mexican government on Sunday responded to Trump’s claim: “As the Mexican government has always stated, our country will not pay, under any circumstances, for a wall or physical barrier built on U.S. territory along the Mexican border.”

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