President Barack Obama embarked on a new year of foreign policy by welcoming Mexico’s embattled president to the White House Tuesday, seeking help to jump start a new U.S. approach to immigration, Cuba and trade.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto praised Obama’s executive action to shield from deportation some 4 million immigrants ? most of them from his country ? and his move to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba. Both presidents are hoping Congress will approve a new trade treaty that would involve countries stretching from Chile to Japan.
And they discussed a scandal that has sparked massive protests in the Mexican streets and a smaller one in the snow outside the White House as they met ? the Sept. 26 abduction and presumed murder of 43 college students, allegedly at the hands of local officials and police in league with a drug cartel.
Pena Nieto has drawn criticism for saying it was time to “move beyond” the case just weeks after their abduction and taking a month to meet with their families.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-seeks-mexicos-pena-nieto-cuba-immigration-28021516
