Mexico City, June 12 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that people "must always keep a cool head" when dealing with the United States and "always value everything in its proper context" after a senior American official said she "encouraged" migrant protests in Los Angeles, California.
During her daily morning press conference at the National Palace on Wednesday (Mexico time), the Mexican president denied that she or the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) is encouraging the violent protests, an accusation levelled by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the political opposition in Mexico.
Sheinbaum said statements she made three weeks ago about peacefully opposing a US bid to tax remittances were taken out of context, reports Xinhua news agency.
"We have never called for a violent demonstration, never in our entire lives," said Sheinbaum.
At a White House event on Tuesday, Noem said, "Claudia Sheinbaum came out and encouraged more protests in LA, and I condemn her for that."
US immigration raids at schools and businesses and mass deportations of undocumented migrants sparked sometimes violent protests in Los Angeles that appeared to escalate after the White House decided to deploy troops to quell the unrest. Many people have been arrested.
"Yesterday, when the Secretary of Homeland Security made this statement, we immediately said: absolutely false, totally false. We have never called for the (violent) actions in Los Angeles," Sheinbaum said.
The president also chided political opposition figures in Mexico who took to social media to repeat the accusations against her and the Morena party.
It "is their right" to disagree, said Sheinbaum, but "the problem is that they are trying to create, fraudulently, a problem between the United States and Mexico, and that is unpatriotic."
Some 61 Mexicans have been arrested in connection with the protests in Los Angeles, she said, adding the government's position is to always defend the rights of Mexicans at home or abroad.
"First, we will always defend Mexicans. Second, we must always act responsibly, with a cool head, in our relationship with the United States. And third, the role that all Mexicans should be playing is defending our fellow citizens who are experiencing a difficult relationship" in the United States, Sheinbaum said.
Finally, the president said she would make the case at a meeting later in the day with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau that Mexicans residing in the United States are hardworking people who deserve recognition that the US economy needs their labour.
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