Mexico’s President Presses Pompeo on Reuniting Migrant Families

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday urged US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to reunite migrant families who have been separated from their parents at the border, according to Mexico’s top diplomat.

Pena Nieto’s remarks came after a meeting with Pompeo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Mexico City, the Hill reported.

During the meeting, Pena Nieto noted to Pompeo that Mexicans have “great worry” for the more than 2,000 children who have been separated under the US President Donald Trump administration’s controversial “zero tolerance” border policy.

“[Pena Nieto] urged Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Nielsen and the rest of the delegation that maximum efforts be put into achieving the prompt reunification of families,” Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso said at a joint press conference.

A separate statement from the Mexican president’s office highlighted “the need to find a permanent solution that prioritizes the well-being and rights of minors.”

A federal judge in California ruled that all children under the age of 5 needed to be reunified by July 10, and on July 12 the Department of Health and Human Services said it had completed family reunifications for all eligible minors under the age of 5.

The government returned 57 eligible children to their families, though it is unclear how the government plans to reunite the remaining children in federal custody.

The US delegation also met with Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who won the July 1 elections with a wide margin and is set to be inaugurated Dec. 1.