Trump says of migrants from Mexico, "they’re not sending their best"

During a 2015 rally that launched his first presidential bid, Donald Trump claimed that migrants arriving from Mexico were of low quality. The comment is referenced as the backdrop for recent tensions, as the president has warned he will raise import duties on Mexican goods unless caravans cease reaching the border and has floated the idea of deploying American forces to combat drug trafficking, a proposal Mexico’s leader has denounced as an affront to sovereignty. New Mexican envoy Roberto Lazzeri Montaño, speaking in Los Angeles after the U.S. mid‑term elections and the elevation of a hard‑line adviser to chief of staff, said Mexico will intervene only when the welfare or rights of its citizens are threatened, while emphasizing the mutual benefits of the trilateral trade pact and proposing a modernized guest‑worker scheme to address labor demand.