Mexican President: Obama Exec Amnesty ‘Act of Justice’ for Illegals

On Tuesday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto hailed President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty as an “act of justice” and vowed that the Mexican government would help illegal immigrants from Mexico obtain documents like birth certificates without having to travel to Mexico.

Pena Nieto and Obama met at the White House and, according to the White House, Pena Nieto said Obama’s executive amnesty was a “very intelligent and audacious decision” and “is of course an act of justice for people who arrive from other parts of the world but are now part of the U.S. community.”

After acknowledging that “a very big majority of Mexican citizens” will benefit from Obama’s executive amnesty, Pena Nieto said the Mexican government will help Mexicans living in the United States get the documentation “necessary to prove that they have been in the United States before 2010.”

Pena Nieto said illegal immigrants from Mexico will even “be able to get their birth certificates without having to go to Mexico.”

The Mexican president said he and Obama also discussed “modernizing border crossings between both nations” so that “we can have faster, more expeditious trade and also crossing of people, that this may take place in a very orderly fashion.”

“And there are different projects. Some of them have already been finished; others are in the process of implementation,” he said. “And this, of course, constitutes less crossing time in terms of the transit of people and of goods through our border.”

Pena Nieto, who has referred to America as “the other Mexico,” praised California for its generous policies toward illegal immigrants during a recent visit. He also scolded other governors who did not follow California’s lead and demanded “justice” for illegal immigrants in the United States.

Obama assured Pena Nieto that his administration will provide a “mechanism so that families are not separated who have been here for a long time.”

“But we’re also going to be much more aggressive at the border in ensuring that people come through the system legally,” Obama said. “And the Mexican government has been very helpful in how we can process and message that effectively both inside of the United States and in Mexico.”