Mexico presidential frontrunner blasts Trump call for border troops

The front-runner in the Mexican presidency, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, weighed in on the issue in a tweet. His statement came a day after Mr. Trump signed an order deploying the National Guard to the U.S. -Mexico border.

The White House on Tuesday said mobilizing the National Guard was part of Trump's strategy to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country, whom he blames for crime and drug trafficking.

The caravan's organizers originally hoped to lead the group as far as the southwest border of the United States, which many hoped to cross one way or another.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto scolded President Trump in a new video Thursday for taking a "threatening" attitude toward his country, and praising the Mexican Senate for condemning Mr. Trump's comments this week about immigration.

And before Trump credited Mexico's "strong immigration laws" for dispersing much of the migrant group on Thursday, earlier this week he warned that he would "stop their cash cow, NAFTA", if the country doesn't reduce the flow of immigrants coming across the southern U.S. border.

But that didn't sit well with some Mexican political forces.

Lopez Obrador said crime rates in USA border cities have been falling in recent years, as has the number of Mexicans seeking to cross the border.

Ricardo Anaya, the second placed candidate who heads a right-left coalition, backed the Senate motion in a media conference early on Thursday.

The independent presidential candidate Margarita Zavala said that it is time for unity in light of Washington's threats.

The Senate also insisted on reminding President Trump that NAFTA has been of mutual benefit, underlining "the five million U.S. jobs derived from the Treaty and the Mexican investments for more than 52,000 million dollars in 6,500 United States companies that have employed more than 120,000 people", the report continues.

Mr. Pena Nieto said Mexico stands ready to engage with the U.S.

'We do not accept the construction of a wall on our border. "I urge you to reconsider this hostile act".