Donald Trump: Mexico says it will not pay a cent towards that 'stupid wall'

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Republican Donald Trump has received a lot of coverage for his anti-immigration proposals, including banning Muslims and building a wall between the US and Mexico.

But one man has voice has summed up what possibly all Mexicans think about the proposals: "crazy".

Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, speaking in an interview with CNBC, said: “Mexican people, we are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall! And it's going to be completely useless.” As for Mr Trump himself, Mr Calderon said he is not a "very well-informed man".

Mr Calderon, who served as Mexican President between 2006 and 2012, said the “first loser” of such a policy would be the US, as Mexicans “spend a lot of money” buying US products.

“If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade (or) for people is going to provide prosperity to the United States, he is completely crazy,” he said.

Mr Calderon insisted that Mexican migrants moving to the US had slowed down to a "trickle".

Republican hopeful Mr Trump, who lost out to Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus last week, caused outrage when he used a video of supposed illegal immigrant scrambling over a wall to illustrate the “problem” in Mexico – only for viewers to find out the video was shot several years ago in Morocco. He spent $2 million per week airing that advert.

Since losing the caucus, the real estate tycoon has upped the ante of his controversial remarks. He said he would bring back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse” as he clashed with his colleagues at the latest debate before the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night. His comments come as President Obama is attempting to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Calderon’s first act in 2006 as President of Mexico was to carry out a “war on drugs” and up the police force in many regions. In 2013 The New York Times reported there were 60,000 dead and the problem had only worsened, leaving current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to tackle the crisis.