by WorldTribune Staff, February 14, 2017
The facts – coming from Mexico itself – appear to contradict media reports on mass deportations conducted last week by the Trump administration.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Feb. 13 that there has not been a rise in the number of deportations of Mexicans from the United States under President Donald Trump.
Videgaray said in a television interview that the number of deported Mexicans was slightly lower than deportations under the Obama administration at the same point last year.
Last week, U.S. federal immigration agents arrested hundreds of illegal aliens in at least four states, in what officials called routine enforcement action.
The media immediately raised the fear alert:
From The Washington Post: “Immigrant community on high alert, fearing Trump’s ‘deportation force’ ”
From The New York Times: “Reports of raids have immigrants bracing for enforcement surge”.
Videgaray said, even though deportations are lower than at the same time a year ago, Mexican consulates in the United States have received at least three times as many daily phone calls from worried immigrants as before the recent deportations.
“It’s grown exponentially,” he said.