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Mexico’s gun control same priority as U.S. immigration control says Foreign Affairs

Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs says that Mexico’s concern over border gun control has the same priority as the U.S. concern over border immigration control.

In a report, el Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard said that one of the main agreements with the United States government is the permanent review of arms trafficking at the border.

The announcement was made after a Tuesday meeting with the United States, the Mexican Foreign Minister said, explaining that a binational group was implemented for the exclusive review of the issue of weapons.

He says that for Mexico, the control of arms trafficking on the northern border has the same priority as immigration control for the United States.

Marcelo Ebrard explained that Mexico’s migration strategy “has been successful”, adding that migratory flow figures to the U.S. from June to date, has decreased 58.7 percent. During the meet, he presented a map showing weapons entering various Mexican states from the U.S.

A report from the U.S Government Accountability Office showed that 70 percent of guns seized in Mexico have a U.S. origin. Bradley Engelbert, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said these figures remain consistent.

But figures could become more worrisome now that the Trump administration has taken steps to ease rules on gun exports, enabling manufacturers to sell guns in Mexico and Central America countries.

However, the Chancellor and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called the meeting successful with the president confirming a good relationship with the U.S. government. Lopez Obrado also said a recent telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, ended as good neighbor.