Mexico unites in protest against Trump’s immigration policies

Tens of thousands of people in Mexico have taken to the streets to protest against Donald Trump’s immigration policies and plan for a border wall.

Demonstrators in more than a dozen Mexican cities, dressed in white, waved Mexican flags and anti-Trump placards.

Organisers said that they wanted to send a message that Mexico was united against Trump.

They also criticised Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for failing to tackle corruption and reduce violence.

Protester Maria Amparo Cassar said Trump’s immigration policies were “a threat to the global community”.

“It should not be forgotten that American society was made by migrants and continues to be made by migrants,” she said.

Demonstrators marching through the nation’s capital, Mexico City, carried signs of unity.

One banner read: “Gracias, Trump, for unifying Mexico!”

Trump’s plan to build a wall along the US border with Mexico has angered citizens in the country and Pena Nieto has consistently refused to meet the U.S. president’s demands to pay for it.

“Mexico does not believe in walls,” he said.

Trump has already signed an executive order for an impassable physical barrier along the US border with Mexico and insisted that the Mexican people reimburse the U.S.

He has repeatedly said that the wall is necessary to stop the unprecedented surge of illegal migrants from Central America.

Building a 2,000-mile barrier along the Mexican border was one of Trump’s key pledges in the election campaign.

Trump’s crackdown on immigration has also created fear among Mexicans living in the US, who may face deportation under the president’s new measures.

On Thursday, Trump signed three executive orders targeting crime and drug cartels with the aim of deporting illegal immigrants who have committed such crimes.

Source: BBC