Tim Kaine: Donald Trump's Mexico trip was a 'diplomatic embarrassment'

Maxwell Tani
Tim Kaine: Donald Trump's trip to Mexico was 'diplomatic amateur hour'
Tim Kaine: Donald Trump's trip to Mexico was 'diplomatic amateur hour'



Sen. Tim Kaine denied on Thursday that Donald Trump gained political capital from traveling to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto

In an interview on "Good Morning America," Clinton's running mate called Wednesday's trip a "diplomatic embarrassment," mocking Trump for his claim that he did not discuss with Peña Nieto whether Mexico would fund a wall along the US border.

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For his part, Peña Nieto claimed that he actually told Trump in the meeting he was not going to pay for the border wall.

"He's been talking for a year about we're going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it," Kaine said on MSNBC. "And then he goes eyeball to eyeball with the president of Mexico, and what, he forgets suddenly to bring it up, or he's too afraid to bring it up, or he chokes in the meeting?"

SEE MORE: Donald Trump meets Mexico's President Pena Nieto

Kaine also slammed Trump's much-hyped immigration speech, saying that the Republican presidential nominee's anti-immigrant sentiments and pledge to deport millions of immigrants were part of a long, dark history of American suspicion toward immigrants.

"This same speech has been given throughout our history against the Irish, against Italian-American immigrants, against Jews coming from Eastern Europe. It is deportation nation, and they're all criminals, and they're doing horrible things — that's not going to make our country great," Kaine said.

Despite the Trump campaign's flirtation with softening the real-estate magnate's immigration-policy proposals, Wednesday's appearance in Mexico and speech in Arizona affirmed Trump's commitment to certain hardline policies. Trump vowed to deport millions of people living in the US illegally, and fight cities and states that grant minor privileges and occasional legal leniency to immigrants living in the US without permission.

"This election is our last chance to secure the border, stop illegal immigration, and reform our laws to make your life better," Trump said. "This is it. We won't get another opportunity — it will be too late."

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