 Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shake hands after a joint statement at Los Pinos, the presidential official residence, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug.... (Associated Press) 
 
 MEXICO CITY (AP) — Standing alongside the president of Mexico, a measured Donald Trump on Wednesday firmly defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank but declined to repeat his frequent promise to force Mexico to pay for it. While Peña Nieto says the countries have shared challenges, he says that there exists "an incomplete vision of the border issues," with weapons and cash flowing south from the U.S. and fueling violence. Mexicans living in the U.S. are honest and hardworking people — they are people of goodwill, who respect family, who respect living in community, and who respect the law,” he said. He has promised, if elected, to deport millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, force Mexico to build a wall to secure the nearly 2,000-mile border and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to make it more favorable to the United States. Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate who is widely despised across Mexico, also sidestepped his repeated criticism of Mexican immigrants following a closed-door meeting at the official residence of the country's president, Enrique Pena Nieto. Pence said that Trump and Pena Nieto are expected to discuss the logistics of Trump's proposed border wall — something Trump insists Mexico will pay for, despite Pena Nieto's condemnation of the plan. The meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto, who earlier this year compared the billionaire candidate to Hitler, comes hours before Trump is set to deliver a highly-anticipated immigration speech.
– In a situation that was unthinkable just 24 hours ago, Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto gave a joint press conference Wednesday in Mexico City following an hour-long meeting between the two, reports the Los Angeles Times, which calls Trump's jaunt to Mexico both "hastily arranged" and "stunning." "We did discuss the wall," the AP quotes Trump as saying, answering the question on everyone's mind. But: "We didn't discuss payment of the wall." But ABC News reports Peña Nieto later took to Twitter, claiming he did in fact tell Trump Mexico wouldn't pay for the wall, essentially calling the candidate a liar. During the news conference, Trump maintained it was America's right to build a wall, Peña Nieto says any talk of border security needs to include stopping the flow of money and guns into Mexico, according to Politico. In addition to not addressing his long-made claim that Mexico would pay for the wall, Trump also softened his rhetoric on Mexican immigrants. "I happen to have a tremendous feeling for Mexican-Americans," Salon quotes Trump as saying. And Peña Nieto insisted that all Mexican nationals living in the US "deserve the respect of everyone." Trump ended his speech by calling Peña Nieto, a man who once compared him to Hitler, a "friend." Peña Nieto characterized his discussion with Trump as "open and constructive." He says he believes Trump really does want to help Mexico via his policies, the AP reports. Both men are "extremely unpopular" in Mexico, as the Times puts it.