Governor Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have emerged as prominent Democratic opponents of Trump's agenda, pledging to defend the state's liberal policies
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she is confident that a tariff war with the United States can be averted. But her statement the day after she held a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump did not make clear who had offered what. There will be no potential tariff war, Sheinbaum said flatly when asked about the issue at her daily morning news briefing. On Wednesday, Trump wrote that Sheinbaum had agreed to stop unauthorised migration across the border into the United States. She wrote on her social media accounts the same day that migrants and caravans are taken care of before they reach the border. But whether that constituted a promise, a pledge or a simple statement of reality remains unclear. In recent years, migrants who have been unable to obtain permission to cross Mexico have joined together in caravans to walk or hitchhike north toward the US border, seeking safety in numbers. In fact, apart from the first caravans in 2018 and 2019 which were .
Sheinbaum's calls for collaboration instead of hostility reflect delicate balance she has sought to maintain since Trump's victory put her nation on front line of a potential US trade war with China
Trump campaigned on a pledge to roll out a slew of tariffs, including for firms that had moved operations to Mexico, in a bid to restore jobs in the US
Arizona voters have approved letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico, an authority that would encroach on the federal government's power over immigration enforcement but would not take effect immediately, if ever. With the approval of Proposition 314, Arizona becomes the latest state to test the limits of what local authorities can do to curb illegal immigration. Within the past year, GOP lawmakers in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma have passed immigration laws. In each case, federal courts have halted the states' efforts to enforce them. The only presidential battleground state that borders Mexico, Arizona is no stranger to a bitter divide on the politics of immigration. Since the early 2000s, frustration over federal enforcement of Arizona's border with Mexico has inspired a movement to draw local police departments, which had traditionally left border duties to the federal government, into immigration enforcement. The state Legislature
Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at Arizona's border with Mexico, making her first visit to the international boundary since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee as she confronts one of her biggest vulnerabilities ahead of the November election. Harris on Friday stepped out of her motorcade on a dusty desert road outside Douglas, Arizona, and shook hands with two men from the US Border Patrol. Harris, wearing sunglasses, slacks and a black coat, chatted with the uniformed agents as they walked along the rust-colored border wall in temperatures that neared 100 degrees. Later, she was expected to call for further tightening asylum restrictions, breaking from President Joe Biden's policy on an issue where her rival, former President Donald Trump, has an edge. Trump and his fellow Republicans have pounded Harris relentlessly over the Biden administration's record on migration and fault the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the Whi
Mexico's president told reporters Tuesday he has put relations with the United States and Canadian embassies on pause after the two countries voiced concerns over a proposed judicial overhaul that critics say could undermine the independence of the judiciary. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador didn't elaborate on what a pause would mean. It's not a term used in formal diplomatic codes, and Mexico's foreign ministry did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment about what it would entail. The judicial overhaul proposal, suggested by the Mexican president during his final weeks in office, includes having judges elected to office, something analysts, judges and international observers fear would stack courts with politically biased judges with little experience. It has spurred major protests and strikes and wide criticism from investors and financial institutions. Last week, American ambassador Ken Salazar called the proposal a risk to democracy that would endanger Mexico
As soon as she stepped onto Mexican soil this week, Venezuelan migrant Yuri Carolina Melndez downloaded the US government's app to apply for asylum appointments. The CBP One app has been around, but as of Friday migrants in Mexico's southernmost states bordering Guatemala will be able to apply for appointments. Previously, they had to be in central or northern Mexico. I have to wait to see if it really works, the woman said while resting under a tree with her 16- and 18-year-old daughters along a border highway leading to the city of Tapachula this week. Mexico has been asking the US to expand the app's access to the south in an attempt to relieve the pressure migrants feel to continue north to at least Mexico City. In recent years, the Mexican government has tried to contain migrants in the south farther from the US border, but the lack of work opportunities and housing in southern cities like Tapachula have pushed migrants north. Mexico hopes that if migrants can wait for their .
Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, has said the election of judges by popular vote would cut corruption in the judiciary, and prevent it from prioritizing business interests over the public good
The Biden administration will expand areas where migrants can apply online for appointments to enter the United States to a large swath of southern Mexico, officials said on Saturday, potentially easing strains on the Mexican government and lessening dangers for people trying to reach the US border to claim asylum. Migrants will be able to schedule appointments on the CBP One app from the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, extending the zone from northern and central Mexico, US Customs and Border Protection said. The move satisfies a request of Mexico, an increasingly close partner of the US in efforts to control extraordinary migration flows. The change will spare migrants from traveling north through Mexico to get one of 1,450 appointments made available daily, CBP said. The agency said it will happen soon but did not give a date. We consistently engage with our partners in the Government of Mexico and work together to adjust policies and practices in response to the latest migration
Two top leaders of Mexican drug cartel known as El Mayo and El Chapo were arrested by US authorities in a major operation involving the FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security investigations
Ismael El Mayo Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, and Joaqun Guzman Lopez, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the US Justice Department said. A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn, Zambada is one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world and known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile. The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to Zambada's capture. The Justice Department said the men were arrested in El Paso but didn't immediately provide details about how they were taken into custody. Zambada and Guzmn Lpez, who have eluded authorities for decades, oversaw the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will "face justice in the United States. Fentan
Mexico's president called Donald Trump a friend on Friday and said he would write to the former US president to warn him against pledging to close the border or blaming migrants for bringing drugs into the United States. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called Trump, president from 2017 to 2021 and again the Republican nominee for this fall's presidential election, a man of intelligence and vision, despite Trump's repeated calls to close the two countries' border. Mexicans were offended in 2015 when then-candidate Trump claimed that, in many cases, immigrants arriving in the US illegally included criminals, drug dealers, rapists". And Mexico was shocked in 2019 when Trump as president threatened to close the border for a long time unless Mexican authorities stopped migrants from crossing. Lpez Obrador said the two countries' economies were so intertwined that they couldn't bear a closure for even a month. Lopez Obrador said that in a letter he planned to send next week, I am .
US National Hurricane Centre said Beryl, which was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, now had winds of 115 mph (185 kph ) after weakening earlier
The United States government has suspended inspections of avocados and mangoes in the Mexican state of Michoacan due to security concerns, an official said on Monday. A US government spokesperson, whose name could not be used under agency policy, said the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is pausing inspections in Michoacan, which is Mexico's biggest exporter of avocados, until the security conditions are resolved. Inspections in other Mexican states are not affected, the spokesperson said. In February 2022, the US government suspended inspections of Mexican avocados until further notice after a US plant safety inspector in Michoacan received a threatening message. The halt was lifted after about a week. Later that year, Jalisco became the second Mexican state authorized to export avocados to the US. The pause in inspections won't block shipments of Mexican avocados to the United States, because Jalisco is now an exporter and there are a lot
Pollster Parametria forecast Sheinbaum winning a landslide 56 per cent of the vote, according to their exit polls
Polls closed on Sunday in a national vote that will likely give Mexico its first female president but the heat, violence and polarisation continued almost right through election day. People turned out to vote in the township of Cuitzeo, in the western state of Michoacn, despite the fact that a town council candidate was shot to death by two hitmen aboard a motorcycle just hours before the election. Nationwide, the voting was largely peaceful but it appeared that even if the frontrunner -- former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum -- wins, she is unlikely to enjoy the kind of unquestioning devotion that outgoing President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has enjoyed. Both belong to the ruling Morena party. Araceli Hernndez (49), a university professor in international studies in Mexico City, said she was voting for Morena. "Even though there are things we don't like, like militarisation, there has been progress." Hernndez was referring to Lpez Obrador's policy of relying on the army and t
Mexicans will vote Sunday in historic elections weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country's path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president a major step in a country long marked by its macho culture. The election will also be the biggest in the country's history. More than 20,000 congressional and local positions are up for grabs, according to the National Electoral Institute. The number of contested posts has fed bloodshed during the campaigns, as criminal groups have used local elections as an opportunity to exert power. A toxic slate of cartels and gangs have battled for turf and more than 20 people seeking political office have been killed just this year. Also at play is the political legacy of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador and Mexico's often tumultuous relationship with the United States. WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES IN MEXICO'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION? Candidat
A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a stay on a Texas law that gives police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the US-Mexico border illegally while a legal battle over immigration authority plays out. The Biden administration is suing to strike down the measure, arguing it's a clear violation of federal authority that would hurt international relations and create chaos in administering immigration law. The law allows any police officer in Texas to arrest migrants for illegal entry. A judge could then order them to leave the US Texas has argued it has a right to take action over what Texas authorities have called a crisis at the southern border. The battle over the Texas immigration law is one of multiple legal disputes between Texas officials and the Biden administration over how far the state can go to patrol the Texas-Mexico border and prevent illegal border crossings. Gov. Greg Abbott has described the situation at the border as an invasion of migrants.
For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported to the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as US efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home. Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department show that the value of goods imported to the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $475 billion. At the same time, the value of Chinese imports imports tumbled 20% to $427 billion. The last time that Mexican goods imported to the United States exceeded the value of China's imports was in 2002. Economic relations between the United States and China have severely deteriorated in recent years as Beijing has fought aggressively on trade and made ominous military gestures in the Far East. The Trump administration began imposing tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018, arguing that Beijing's trade practices