Mexican president appeals to Trump after barrage of tweets: 'Threatening attitudes' not justified

Show Caption Hide Caption The tough reality of Mexico's migrant caravan Thousands of people are walking towards a better life, but now the numbers are dwindling in response to Trump's U.S. border threats.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, in a statement personally directed to President Trump, called on the U.S. president Thursday to negotiate with Mexico in a constructive spirit, saying the challenges between the two neighbors "never justify threatening or disrespectful attitudes between our countries.”

"If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn to, not to Mexicans,” he said in a five-minute, video statement issued on Twitter. "We’re not going to permit that negative rhetoric to define our actions. We’re only going to work in the best interest of the Mexicans.”

The video was Peña Nieto's first public response to Trump since the U.S. president kicked off a week-long barrage of tweets and statements blasting everything from U.S. immigration laws, the Mexican government, Democrats, NAFTA and Honduran asylum-seekers.

A few hours later, the Pentagon issued a statement that said it was creating a "Border Security Support Cell" to coordinate between the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

"The cell will focus on supporting (the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol) priorities based on missions and threats, which will determine the time frame and number of military personnel employed," the statement said.

Peña Nieto's statement also comes one day after Trump ordered the secretary of Defense to deploy National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexican border to beef up security.

In ordering the deployment, Trump warned that conditions on the borders were at a "point of crisis" and that "lawlessness" on the Southern border is "fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security and sovereignty of the American people."

He added that his administration "has no choice but to act."

Hay algo que a todos, absolutamente a todos los mexicanos, nos une y nos convoca: la certeza de que nada, ni nadie, está por encima de la dignidad de México. pic.twitter.com/3FxfbAF4zl — Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) April 5, 2018

In West Virginia, Trump again hit the immigration topic hard on Thursday, saying, "We have to have strong borders" and vowed that troops would remain at the border "until we can have a wall."

In his tweets in recent days, the president has threatened to end the North American Free Trade Agreement and blamed Democrats, Mexico and Central American countries for allowing migrants and drugs to flow into the U.S.

The Mexican leader took a measured tone in his remarks, spoken in front of a Mexican flag, listing the ways his country has worked with the U.S., including with Trump, to "modernize” NAFTA and stop transnational criminal gangs and other things.

“The bilateral relationship entails enormous opportunities that should benefit both nations,” he said. “It is an intense and dynamic relationship, which understandably also poses challenges. Nevertheless, these will never justify threatening or disrespectful attitudes between our countries.

“Paraphrasing the words of a great president of the United States of America: We will have no fear to negotiate, but we will never negotiate out of fear,” he said, quoting President Kennedy.

Trump, who said a "crisis" forced him to order the troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, said Thursday that a border-bound caravan of about 1,000 migrants fleeing violence in Central America had broken up inside Mexico.

The president has been tweeting about the caravan since Sunday after the Fox News program Fox & Friends and other media outlets reported a group of more than 1,000 migrants was traveling to the U.S. border and Mexican authorities were doing little to stop them.

The caravan at the heart of the latest border flareup was marching northward to draw attention to the migrants' plight, with most heading to official U.S. border crossings to apply for asylum and some hoping to break off and cross illegally.

Trump said Thursday, without providing details, that women in the caravan had been raped “at levels that nobody has ever seen before.”

The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border. Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

Under pressure from both countries, the migrants, who were largely traveling as a group as protection against criminals, will disband in Mexico City after some of the hundreds of them requested documents to stay in Mexico.

Mexico, in turn, announced it deported about 400 of the migrants, while also processing requests from migrants for documents to stay in the country.

In his first tweet of the day Thursday, Trump noted the feared caravan invasion was no longer a threat, then shifted the focus to illegal drug smuggling.

"The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border," he tweeted. "Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!"

While some in the caravan will drop out, others will continue on their own to the U.S. to apply for asylum, Alex Mensing, an organizer with the advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, told The Arizona Republic.

The migrant caravan, which left Chiapas, Mexico's most southern state, on March 25 is "still together, arranging documents with MX immigration, next stop Puebla, then meet with gov agencies, then many will go separate ways to apply for asylum in MX or USA," Mensing told the newspaper by text.

More: Trump suggests he will send U.S. troops to the Mexican border

More: Trump keeps focus on caravan of Honduran asylum seekers headed to U.S.

More: President Trump orders National Guard to the Mexican border

Trump's warnings come despite new statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that show the number of people caught trying to illegally cross the Southwest border in fiscal year 2017 was 303,916, the lowest since 1971. Those numbers continued to fall in the first six months of fiscal year 2018.

From October to March, the total number of people caught trying to cross the Southwest border — 173,599 — is down 13% compared with the same time period the previous year.

Through February, the number of unaccompanied minors dropped 36% over the previous year's same time period, and the number of family units — parents traveling with minor children — declined 46% over that time.

In March, 37,393 immigrants were caught along the Southwest border, the highest monthly total since December 2016.

The renewed emphasis on border security comes less than two weeks after Trump supporters criticized him for signing a spending bill that did not fund the border wall.

While Trump and aides hailed a recent downturn in illegal immigration, they also claimed a recent spike requires action.

"We've recently seen the numbers of illegal border crossings rise from 40-year lows last April to back to previous levels," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

Contributing: David Jackson and Oren Dorell in Washington; Daniel Daniel González, Richard Ruelas and Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic; The Associated Press