Mexican finance minister says there is 'no way' the country will fund a wall along U.S. border if Donald Trump is elected president

There is no way Mexico would fund Donald Trump's 'terrible' plan to build a wall along its border with the United States if the Republican front-runner wins the U.S. presidential election, the Mexican finance minister said.

Trump, the New York billionaire developer and former reality television star, sparked outrage in Mexico when he vowed to force Latin America's second largest economy to pay for a wall along the southern U.S. border to stem the flow of illegal immigration and drugs.

In a televised interview late on Wednesday, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray categorically rejected the proposal.

'Under no circumstance will Mexico pay for the wall that Mr Trump is proposing,' he said. 

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Donald Trump has built strong lead with stance against immigration and his vow to build a wall on the border

'Building a wall between Mexico and the United States is a terrible idea. It is an idea based on ignorance and has no foundation in the reality of North American integration.'

Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug runners across the U.S. border and has vowed to increase fees on some Mexican visas and all border crossing cards as part of a broader plan to force Mexico to pay for the wall.

Former conservative Mexican presidents Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox have compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.

Trump has built a strong lead in the race for the Republican nomination in part by taking a tough stance on immigration.

He says Mexico is 'killing' the United States with cheap labor and has sent 'criminals' and 'rapists' across the border. He is also promising to build a huge border wall and proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.

Although Trump has been the most outspoken candidate, his main rivals also say the government must stop the flow of illegal migrants into the country, mainly from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Trump, Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio all say they would overturn President Barack Obama's executive orders that shield some illegal immigrants from deportation.

In 2014, tens of thousands of child migrants traveling without family members overwhelmed the southern U.S. border, sparking a political crisis. The flow then fell in most of 2015 but has surged again in recent months.

Up 24 per cent: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows 150,304 migrants, some pictured here in 2011, were detained trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between October and February

Border patrol officers claim fears of a Trump presidency have helped stoke a spike in the numbers of immigrants trying to enter the United States, including children traveling without guardians.

Interviews with migrants, people smugglers and officials show many migrants are trying to cross now instead of facing tighter policing and new policies to halt illegal immigration if Trump or another Republican wins the November 8 election.

'If Trump wins, we're all screwed and all Latinos are screwed,' Isaias Franco, a 46-year-old from El Salvador who was deported from the United States late last year and is now trying to get back, said at a migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows 150,304 migrants were detained trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between October and February, up 24 percent from the same period last year.

Similar data for 'unaccompanied' child migrants - those traveling without a guardian - is not yet available, but between October and January, 20,455 kids were apprehended on the southwest border, up over 100 percent from a year ago.

The numbers of migrants typically rise as summer approaches.

Like other migrants, Franco is aware of the U.S. presidential race and Trump's vow, matched by fellow Republican candidate Ted Cruz, to deport all the illegal immigrants in the United States, estimated at more than 11 million.

'You watch the news ... There's a lot of fear among Latinos,' Franco said, adding that a Republican victory would spell the end for proposed reforms to give many immigrants greater legal security.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said migrants understand his policies. 'It seems they agree Mr. Trump will be tough, build the wall and stop illegal immigration.'

Blanca Rivera, who manages the Ciudad Juarez migrant shelter, said she had noticed a recent surge in the numbers of migrants and also blamed the inflammatory rhetoric.