Mexican leader praises Obama's 'valor and courage' on illegal immigrant issue

By Julian Pecquet - 06/18/12 02:05 PM ET

President Obama displayed “valor and courage” through his decision to stop deporting young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, Mexican President Felipe Calderón told Obama at the Group of 20 summit on Monday.

“I would like to thank personally, and on behalf of the Mexican nation, President Barack Obama for his valuable decision,” Calderon said, according to a White House transcript.

“We believe that this is very just. It's a humanitarian action. And it's an unprecedented action in our opinion. And in this sense, Mr. President, we would like to thank you for the valor and courage that you had in implementing this action. I am sure that many, many families in the United States of America are thankful to you as well.”

The order applies to about 800,000 young people under the age of 30 who arrived in the United States before they were 16 and have lived law-abiding lives. The decision, which Republicans decried as election-year politicking, immediately caused an upswing in Hispanic support for Obama in five swing states, according to a Latino Decisions-America’s Voice poll conducted over the weekend.

Calderon, the summit's host, made the remarks after a face-to-face meeting with Obama on Monday morning. Calderon also announced that Mexico has been invited to join the multi-state Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which the Obama administration is currently negotiating.