IMMIGRATION/MEXICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Only hours after President Trump said Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had called him to praise his migration policy, the Mexican government denied the two men had spoken recently by phone.
Trump’s comment came Monday [7-31-17] as he was presenting his new chief of staff, John Kelly, who was moving to the White House job from his role as secretary of Homeland Security, where he oversaw immigration policy and deportations.
‘At Homeland, what he has done has been nothing short of miraculous,’ Trump said of Kelly.
‘As you know, the border was a tremendous problem and they’re close to 80% stoppage,’ he continued. ‘And even the president of Mexico called me — they said their southern border, very few people are coming because they know they’re not going to get through our border, which is the ultimate compliment.’
The foreign ministry of Mexico, however, denied the claim of a phone call.
‘President Enrique Pena Nieto has not recently communicated by phone with President Donald Trump,’ the foreign ministry said in a ‘nota informativa’ to the news media issued in Spanish.”
-Doug Stanglin, “Mexico denies Trump claim that president Pena Nieto called, praised migration policy,” USA Today, Aug. 2, 2017 12:24pm