Mexican president calls on US to reunite separated migrant families

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has called on a high-level US delegation to quickly reunite migrant families with their children.

Nieto made the remarks in a statement on Friday, the same day when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leading top US officials arrived in Mexico City to discuss a range of issues, including the border and trade with Nieto and President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Nieto also warned of "hatred and racism" after an attack on a 92-year old Mexican man in California, calling for "a permanent alternative that prioritizes the well-being and rights of minors."

The old man was attacked by a woman and several men with a brick in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to a newly-released video.

The visit by President Donald Trump’s top team comes as his administration is under harsh criticism for deliberately delaying the reunification of migrant families separated at the US-Mexico border.

Pompeo was accompanied by Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

They first met with Nieto and then with leftist, populist Obrador.

Angry protesters jeered at Pompeo's motorcade while it was approaching the office of Obrador, with many of them condemning the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

"Where are our children?" read one sign. Another read, "Stop Trump."

"We wanted to come down here to let you know that President Trump cares deeply for the success of the relationship between our two countries. Our presence here today signals that to you," Pompeo told the president-elect.

"We know there have been bumps in the road between our two countries, but President Trump is determined to make the relationship between our peoples better and stronger."

Elsewhere in his statement, Nieto said the US delegation agreed to constructively move forward talks to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Trump has repeatedly said since his campaigning days for the presidency that he would pull the US out of the NAFTA which was signed by the US, Canada, and Mexico back in 1994.

He claims that pulling out of the deal would serve well US national interests.

In the past, Trump had described NAFTA as the “single worst trade deal ever approved” by the US, and claimed that it has led to the outsourcing of thousands of jobs from the US to Mexico and China.

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