MEXICO CITY, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday said job creation, not the use of force, is the way to combat today's phenomenon of mass migration.
Speaking to reporters at his daily news briefing, Lopez Obrador said: "I favor attending to the migration phenomenon with development, with employment, with wellbeing."
"I don't think the use of force or other measures are an option," he added.
His statements came a day after the Pentagon announced it would transfer 1 billion U.S. dollars from its operating budget to pay for the wall that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to be built along the country's border with Mexico.
The U.S. Congress has so far refused to provide the 5 billion dollars Trump has requested to finance the project, which he claims is needed to stop the entry of undocumented migrants, mostly Mexicans and Central Americans fleeing poverty.
Lopez Obrador is backing a multinational strategy to promote investment in poverty-ridden south Mexico and north Central America to spur job creation.
"People go looking for work in the United States out of necessity, not because they like it. To the degree that there is economic growth and employment in Mexico and in Central America, the flow of migrants will slow down," said Lopez Obrador.
Mexico has proposed that governments and businesses in the United States and Canada join an integral development plan launched by Mexico and countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, namely, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, to spur investment and generate jobs in the region.
Mexico and the United States have agreed to invest in the scheme to curb migration, with Washington pledging 5.8 billion dollars for economic development and institutional reforms in the Northern Triangle, according to Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Washington has also pledged to raise public and private sector investment in Mexico to some 4.8 billion dollars starting in 2019, with 2 billion earmarked for projects in southern Mexico.
