Mexico Wants To Build A Wall? Border Security, Illegal Immigration On Agenda For Trump Meeting With Mexican Government

Mexico wants to keep an open agenda in its upcoming discussion with Donald Trump next month, aiming to discuss everything from trade, border security, illegal immigration and curbing the heroine epidemic.

The goal for the Mexican government is to have a bargaining chip when the two nations meet to map out a future relationship under the next White House administration. A meeting date has not been set ahead of Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.

Trump has stroked uncertainty in the bordering countries’ stable relationship, promising to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and claiming Mexico sends its drug smugglers, rapists and criminals. But if Mexico maintains an open-mind when listening to the president-elect’s concerns, a senior Mexican government official said the government could further bolster its own economic interests, Reuters reported Wednesday.

"It can't just be about one issue, as that would put us at a disadvantage," Mexican Congressman Victor Giorgana told Reuters.

Mexico could be planning to deepen its commitment to curbing drug trafficking along its northern border, as well as preventing illegal immigration along its southern border, where thousands of Latin Americans make the voyage each year through Mexico to the states.

"These people are trying to enter U.S. territory. So it's a shared issue. At some point these things must be put on the table, and they have to open their eyes," Enrique Jackson, deputy leader of the PRI in the lower house of Congress, told Reuters.

When it comes to Trump’s wall, Mexico has already vowed to take no part in funding or constructing the border security pledge that became synonymous with the president-elect’s successful presidential campaign. Despite Trump saying he never discussed who would pay for the wall during his August meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, the president later tweeted, "At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."