Mexico’s top diplomat to visit immigrant-friendly California

SACRAMENTO — Mexico’s top diplomat will make a two-day visit to immigrant-friendly California amid strained relations between his country and the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s border wall and immigration and trade proposals.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray is expected to meet Monday with Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislative leaders in California’s capital. He will later head to Los Angeles to announce support for young immigrants whose protection from deportation is being terminated by Trump and meet with business and community leaders. He also plans a trip to Washington later in the week, officials at the Los Angeles consulate said.

The trip comes at a critical time in relations between the two countries. In the last few weeks, Trump has stepped up efforts to build a wall on the U.s.-mexico border and moved to end the program that let roughly 800,000 immigrants — three-quarters of them Mexican — work in the country even though they lack immigration status.

It also comes as negotiations to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, demanded by Trump, got off to a rocky start.

The trip aims to awaken Mexico’s so-called natural allies and send a message to Washington that the countries ought to work together, said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, director of the Center for U.s.-mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

“It is complicated to have a strong relationship with the White House because of who is there, so now Mexico is playing the Washington game and the Washington game is very decentralized,” he said. “He is coming, I would say, to friendly ground in which his message is going to be well-received.”