EXCLUSIVE: Mexican President Is ‘Scared’ To Bring In US Troops, Trump Says

THE OVAL OFFICE – President Donald Trump told the Daily Caller that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is “scared” to bring in U.S. troops.

The Daily Caller sat down with Trump for an hour long interview in the Oval Office. The president talked about his administration’s work on the border crisis, his work with Mexico and upcoming policy on illegal farmers and restaurant workers. (RELATED: WATCH: The Daily Caller’s OPERATION DEPORTATION)

The following is an excerpt from the Caller’s conversation with the president. The full transcript was posted Monday evening.

REESE: You mentioned the border, it’s been something that I think has been probably your administration’s greatest success this time around…

TRUMP: They don’t even talk about it. [Inaudible]. Think of it. For the last 90 days, we’ve had nobody, three months. Three months, nobody, zero. And, you know, Democrats do those stats. It’s like zero. It’d be very hard to get it, but for three months, we’ve had nobody. Could be four months now. I mean, I’ve totally solved the border problem. 

REESE: Are you happy with the rate of deportations right now?

TRUMP: Yeah, we’re doing a lot. You know, we’re doing a lot of self deportations. Millions are going out. That’s not much of a story, but a big story is self deportation. You know, we give them an incentive to go out, meaning you can come back someday. If you don’t go out, you can never come back.

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record.]

[TRUMP and REESE move on the record.] 

REESE: Do you trust Mexico to secure their side of the border with – since the government is believed to be, you know, run by the cartels, or the cartels are involved?

TRUMP: So I like the president very much. I think she’s a terrific woman. She’s actually an amazing woman in some, in certain ways, very elegant, beautiful. But Mexico is run by the cartels. It’s run by the cartels. 

[TRUMP and REESE move off the record.] 

TRUMP: Now you can go back [on the record.] I’ve offered to send in the military, and she doesn’t want us to do that.

REESE: Why? 

TRUMP: Because she’s scared.

REESE: Wow. 

TRUMP: She’s very scared.

REESE: On illegal immigration, sticking on immigration, are there still plans to provide deportation exemptions for illegal farmers and restaurant workers? What’s the policy right now? 

TRUMP: We want to, we want to. Look I, I have two groups, that in particular like me, people that don’t want to allow people to come into the country illegally, and the farmers. Okay, they really, with the farmers, they’re great and, and it’s a little at odds, because some of the people coming in for many years have worked on farms, and they’ve been good, and in many cases, they pay taxes, you know, everything else. And you have some of my best people, don’t want anybody in for any reason, no matter what. No matter what. Very hard line stand. So we’re working on legislation now that’s gonna, it’s gonna — I think, I think, I’m gonna make everybody happy.

Mexico has continuously had problems with drug cartels and their influence over the country. Corrupt dealings between the cartels and the Mexican government stretches to Sheinbaum’s office, as two former officials have previously been charged with involvement in a drug trafficking operation, The New York Times reported.

While securing the southern border and stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, the Trump administration has also cracked down on cartels in Mexico. In early August, the president authorized the U.S. military to target Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, sources told The New York Times. The U.S. military also deployed assets to the southern Caribbean sea to curtail cartel activity.