Mexico’s president has rejected an unfounded allegation by a senior US official that she encouraged demonstrations against immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying it is “absolutely false”.
Claudia Sheinbaum responded on social media after Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, accused her of “encouraging violent protests”.
Sheinbaum reposted a video of her daily news conference the previous day, in which she had condemned violent demonstrations and urged Mexicans living in the United States “to act peacefully”.
“We have always been against” violent protests, she wrote on Twitter/X.
“On the other hand, our position is and will continue to be the defense of honest, hardworking Mexicans who support the United States economy and their families in Mexico,” she added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Noem had told reporters at the White House: “Claudia Sheinbaum came out and encouraged more protests in LA and I condemn her for that. She should not be encouraging violent protests that are going on.
“People are allowed to peacefully protest. But the violence that we’re seeing is not acceptable, and it’s not going to happen in America.”
A series of immigration raids across the city of Los Angeles on Friday inspired mostly peaceful protests involving a few hundred people, but the situation escalated on Saturday when the US president took the unprecedented step of mobilizing the national guard, claiming the demonstrations amounted to “rebellion” against the authority of the US government.
Since assuming office, Noem has played a starring role in the second Trump administration, executing the White House’s immigration agenda with fierce loyalty and an eye for the television cameras.
The former South Dakota governor has toured the southern border on horseback, dressed in tactical gear to accompany agents on a raid in New York and posed in a notorious Salvadorian prison with a $50,000 Rolex on her wrist.
