Mexico's pitch to Trump

-Source-Reuters-

The politician leading the race to be Mexico's next leader said on Sunday he wants to broker a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to stem illegal immigration through jobs and development rather than a border wall.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the favorite to win Mexico's July 1 presidential election, said he hoped to craft a deal with Trump similar to the "Alliance for Progress", an aid plan launched in 1961 by then-president John F. Kennedy to help Latin America.

"Our dream, which we'll achieve regardless of whether Trump accepts or not, is that the Mexican can work and be happy where he was born," Lopez Obrador said during a campaign event in the southern border city of Tapachula.

Aides to Lopez Obrador, a leftist former mayor of Mexico City, say he thinks he can find common ground with Trump over migration, which has fueled tensions between the two countries.

For months the Mexican candidate has been working on his plan to improve wages and create better conditions for Mexican workers. It must also raise living standards in Central America and create more job opportunities there, said Lopez Obrador, 64. Read more