Trump says Mexican president 'lacks respect' for Biden after demanding $20 billion a year in aid for Latin American and Caribbean in exchange to help halt illegal migrants surge

Donald Trump has claimed the President of Mexico lacks respect for President Biden after asking for $20 billion simply to talk, as part of a series of outlandish requests that critics have termed 'diplomatic blackmail'. 

Speaking on Fox News on Sunday night, Trump intimated that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's plan to ask for money simply to speak with Biden is a sign of Biden's weakness. 

'He said he wants $10 billion essentially just to talk, $10 billion to talk. That wouldn't happen with me, with the wall,' Trump bragged. 

Earlier this year Obrador suggested that the Mexican government would work to support the U.S. efforts to curb the surge of illegal migrants, but only if certain outlandish conditions were met.

Obrador wants the United States to reciprocate by sending $20 billion annually in taxpayer cash in the form of aid to Latin America and the Caribbean to address so-called 'root causes' of migration.

'We're not going to shut down our border until you change your policy on Cuba and change your policy on Venezuela,' journalist Brian Kilmeade reminded viewers of what Obrador had suggested before asking Trump: 'Is it OK for the Mexican president to dictate American policy?' 

'It's very simple: lack of respect for the president. They would never say that to me. They would never say before we even talk. They want $10 billion a year, Mexico just asked for $10 billion a year. They would never ask it. I wouldn't give them 10 cents,' Trump continued.   

Aside from the $20 billion in aid, Obrador wants to see Biden lifting sanctions on communist Cuba and Venezuelas socialist government and the granting, amnesty and providing of legal status to 'millions of law-abiding Mexicans living in the US.'

Obrador, realizing he has leverage over Biden with immigration a chief concern in this year's U.S. election, has suggested that the 'flow of migrants will continue' unless the U.S. meets his demands. 

Obrador has explained such ideas as him 'speaking frankly' because 'we have to say things as they are — and I always say what I feel.' 

House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said that the U.S. could even force Mexico to comply with American immigration policy, but the comments only served to irk Obrador further. 

'We are not a colony. We are not a protectorate of any foreign country,' Obrador responded while appearing on CBS. 'And we have a very good relationship with the government of the United States — but not one of subordination.'

Mexico's has gone some way to crack down on immigration in recent months - at the urging of the Biden administration, and has hit Venezuelans especially hard. 

The development highlights how much the U.S. depends on Mexico to control migration, which has reached unprecedented levels and is a top issue for voters as  Biden seeks reelection in November. 

Arrests of migrants for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped so far this year after a record high in December. 

The biggest decline was among Venezuelans, whose arrests plummeted to 3,184 in February and 4,422 in January from 49,717 in December. 

While two months do not make a trend and illegal crossings remain high by historical standards, Mexico's strategy to keep migrants closer to its southern border with Guatemala than the U.S. is at least temporary relief for the Biden administration.

Large numbers of Venezuelans began reaching the U.S. in 2021, first by flying to Mexico and then on foot and by bus after Mexico imposed visa restrictions. 

Last September, Venezuelans briefly replaced Mexicans as the largest nationality crossing the border. 

Mexico's efforts have included forcing migrants from trains, flying and busing them to the southern part of the country, and flying some home to Venezuela.

More than 500,000 migrants have used the CBP One app to enter the U.S. at land crossings with Mexico since its introduction in January 2023.

They can stay in the U.S. for two years under a presidential authority called parole ,which entitles them to work.

The U.S. admits 1,450 people a day through CBP One with appointments that are granted two weeks out.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has touted his own efforts to explain the recent reduction in illegal crossings in his state, where at least 95 percent of Border Patrol arrests of Venezuelans occur. 

Those have included installing razor wire, putting a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and making plans to build a new base for members of the National Guard. 

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has mostly credited Mexico for the drop in border arrests.