Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is calling for a boycott of Mexico.
O'Reilly said on Thursday's
"O'Reilly Factor" that he is tired of President Barack Obama doing nothing about the human rights of children crossing the border from Mexico in droves or to free the U.S. Marine sitting in a Mexican prison on weapons charges.
"I am asking every American not to travel there, or buy their products," said O'Reilly.
He focused his argument on what he called the human rights abuses being allowed by the Mexican government as thousands of children from Central America are being smuggled through Mexico into the United States, forcing a humanitarian crisis here.
"The primary culprit here is Mexico, which is allow smugglers to abuse children, putting them at grave risk," he said. Some of the children, who are usually traveling alone, have been raped, beaten, and killed.
The
New York Times reported that smugglers associated with Mexican drug cartels are charging up to $7,500 to bring Central American minors across the border.
"The Mexican authorities look the other way because the cartels bribe Mexican officials all the way up to the power brokers in Mexico City," O'Reilly said.
The U.S. government is doing little to help, he said, and America's "awful" immigration system actually encourages the exploitation of children. Once the children arrive, they surrender to U.S. border agents, who are overwhelmed and are forced to house them sometimes in pens with no bathroom facilities.
Obama has made no public comments about Mexican corruption and the human smuggling, O'Reilly noted, but issued a memo on June 2 calling for "unified and coordinated federal response."
"Oh, I can't wait for that," O'Reilly said.
He noted that the
Veterans of Foreign Wars also has called on a boycott of Mexico over the jailing of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi.
Tahmooreessi has been held in a Mexican prison since he says he made a wrong turn early April 1 and was funneled into a road taking him across the Mexican border from which he was unable to turn around until he was on Mexican soil. He told Mexican border agents he had guns, legally owned in the United States, in his vehicle, but was arrested.
Tahmooressi suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and O'Reilly said that the Mexican president could grant him clemency if he chose.
"So we the people must now take action," O'Reilly said. "The way we do that is to not buy their stuff, to not travel there. That is the power we have and it is time to use it."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.