Pompeo: Mexico’s new administration ‘has been great’ in helping with border security

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that Mexico’s new administration “has been great” in helping with border security.

{mosads}”The incoming administration has been great,” Pompeo said on “Fox & Friends,” referencing newly elected Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office late last month.

Pompeo added that the U.S. has been in talks with Mexican officials about how to control traffic flow into Mexico from other Central American countries.

“We have to control that border that is ours and they have to control that border that is theirs,” Pompeo said. “We’re happy to support them, we’re happy to try to do the things we can do to help them.” 

Pompeo earlier this month met with Mexico’s incoming foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard to discuss border security.

At a press briefing last week, López Obrador said his administration’s relationship with Trump is “good” so far, adding that he expects immigration talks with the U.S. to begin soon.

Trump has ramped up pressure on Mexico over a group of around 7,000 Central American migrants waiting in Tijuana as they pursue asylum claims in the U.S.

Border tensions came to a head in recent weeks when U.S. agents fired tear gas into Mexico as dozens of migrants sought to breach the fence between Tijuana and California. Shortly after the incident, Mexico’s foreign ministry called for “a full investigation” into the use of weapons directed toward Mexican territory. 

López Obrador has said he would stand up to Trump, pledging he would not allow Mexico to be Trump’s “whipping boy” and calling the White House’s immigration policies “racist.” López Obrador is Mexico’s first leftist president in more than 70 years. 

He has also said he is open to maintaining a positive working relationship with the Trump administration.