Mexico Will Help Texas After Harvey, But It's Still Not Gonna Pay For That Wall

After Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night in the form of a vicious Category 4 hurricane, Southeastern Texas was pummeled by calamitous winds and powerful downpour. By Saturday, the hurricane had been categorically downgraded to a tropical storm, but the devastation caused by Harvey was rapidly becoming clear to rescue teams, state officials, and even nearby countries, as the government of Mexico vowed to help Hurricane Harvey victims, while still refusing to budge from its position on not funding Donald Trump's infamous proposal for a border wall.

As thousands of Texans were displaced from their homes, power outages hit residential areas and business districts, and houses were submerged in water, the Mexican government expressed condolences and support. A statement read:

The government of Mexico takes this opportunity to express its full solidarity with the people and government of the United States for the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and reports that we have offered the U.S. government all the help and cooperation that can be provided by the different Mexican governmental agencies to deal with the impacts of this natural disaster, as good neighbors should always do in times of difficulty.

While the disaster caused by Harvey became clearer over the weekend, Trump at one point focused on a different subject and tweeted, "With Mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world, we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement [and] other."

The Mexican government's position on Trump's "big" and "beautiful" border wall has remained the same: the government has expressed no intention of building or financing it.

In its official statement on Hurricane Harvey, the government also brought up the border wall and said:

As the government of Mexico has always maintained, our country will not pay, under any circumstances and under any circumstances, a wall or physical barrier built on U.S. territory along the Mexican border. This determination is not part of a Mexican negotiating strategy, but a principle of national sovereignty and dignity.

This isn't the first time that the Mexican government has offered help to American victims of natural disasters. In 2005, the government of Mexico sent its army to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

With 30,000 people expected to need shelter, electricity outages throughout the affected counties of Texas, official reports of at least eight dead, and forecasters' prediction that post-Harvey recovery could take "years," a border wall should be the very last thing on Trump's agenda.