Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. AFP

Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday urged Hispanics living in the United States not to vote for Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida.

Lopez Obrador has rejected the governor’s promise to close the border with Mexico if he is elected president in November 2024.

“I hope the Hispanics in Florida wake up and don’t give them a vote, don’t vote for those who persecute immigrants and those who don’t respect immigrants.” Because immigrants are immigrants, as they say, ‘deserves respect,’ said the left-wing president at his usual press conference.

DeSantis, who has emerged as former President Donald Trump’s main rival for the Republican nomination, has risen to prominence on the right with highly conservative policies on issues such as education, abortion and immigration.

In announcing his candidacy on Twitter, he proposed “closing the border” with Mexico for 2,000 miles.

“Biden opened the border in the South and let a ton of drugs into the country. We will close the border, build a border wall and hold the drug cartels accountable,” Democratic President Joe said.

Lopez Obrador, whose term ends at the end of 2024, argued that politicians like Florida’s governor could be “hypocritical” enough to persecute immigrants and force them to work at the same time.

The president, who has maintained close ties since Trump took office, said, “One of them might be that they are so hypocritical that they are letting immigrants work for them.” .

In the past, the president has called on Hispanics in the United States not to run for Congress and support Republicans and Democrats who promote anti-immigrant narratives. An estimated 35 million Mexicans live in the United States.