By Elizabeth Chou, Los Angeles Daily News
POSTED: 04/07/17, 2:20 PM PDT | UPDATED: 45 SECS AGO


Governors from the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Durango, Morelos, Guanajuato and Oaxaca visit Los Angeles City Hall. Friday, April 7, 2017 (Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles/Twitter)

A delegation of Mexican governors visited Los Angeles City Hall on Friday as part of an effort to reinforce ties between their country and the city, with some speaking out against President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a border wall.

In any other political climate, such a visit would be merely a ceremonial cultural exchange, but the meeting between the City Council and the governors took on a more serious tone amid growing concerns over the fraying relations between Mexico and the United States.

“Walls are very complicated ... they are offensive,” said Baja California Gov. Francisco Arturo Vega de Lamadrid.

He noted the lives of people on both sides of the border are tightly interwoven.

“Even though we have a border that separates us, we share the same region, and it’s very difficult to separate that,” he said. “We have family and many relationships with thousands, possibly millions of people. We have grandparents living on both sides of the border ... we have friends and close friends on both sides of the border.”

Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat pointed to “more than 800,000 first-, second- and third-generation Oaxacans here in Los Angeles, with more than 52 clubs and associations.”

Murat said the governors are in Los Angeles to better understand their constituents’ challenges and demands.

Councilman Jose Huizar added that Mexico and Los Angeles have a shared history.

“Los Angeles was founded by people from Sonora,” he said.

Huizar said the governors’ visit is “so relevant today given everything that’s happening nationally and how this president used a political platform to vilify Mexicans as a way to start his campaign, and here we are in the same fight together against this vilification.”

The visiting governors were from the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Durango, Morelos, Guanajuato and Oaxaca. Also part of the delegation was the mayor of Mexico City.

The governors arrived at City Hall fresh from a meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles. They next headed to a meeting with state Sen. Kevin de Leon, whose bill to make California a “sanctuary state” passed in the Senate this week.

http://www.dailynews.com/government-...t-la-city-hall