WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met Wednesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to address the aftermath of a record-breaking surge in illegal immigration along the US-Mexico border.
Cabinet Secretary and US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar joined López Obrador in Mexico City for private talks that lasted about three hours.
It was unclear whether the US delegation returned from Mexico with a firm deal that would see Mexican authorities step up security along their southern border to prevent the illegal crossing of migrants from Central and South America.
Lopez Obrador teased in a tweet that “an important agreement was reached” during the meeting with US officials, but did not elaborate.
“The US-Mexico partnership is essential to prosperity and security in our country and across the Americas,” Blinken tweeted after the meeting. “It is good to discuss these issues, and our joint efforts to reduce irregular migration, with [López Obrador] today in Mexico City.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Mexico City on Dec. 27, 2023. AP Photo/Fernando Llano
“As we made clear in Mexico City today, we are committed to working with Mexico to address our shared challenges, including managing unprecedented irregular migration in the region, reopening key gateways and combating illicit fentanyl and synthetic drugs other,” said the secretary. state is added.
The high-profile meeting took place against a backdrop of a new all-time daily record for illegal border crossings, which has overwhelmed authorities in Arizona and Texas and forced the temporary shutdown of two commercial rail networks, as well as the approach of caravans of some 8,000 migrants in one party.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar greeted Blinken. AP Photo/Fernando Llano
Border Patrol data shows a daily record of as many 14,509 immigrant encounters on Dec. 18 — and a month-long series of high-profile arrests.
“We had a very productive meeting with the President [López Obrador] and members of his Cabinet today in Mexico City,” Mayorkas said in a tweet, echoing Blinken. “Regional migration challenges require regional solutions, and we appreciate Mexico’s commitment to continue its efforts with us and with others.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters last week that Biden and López Obrador, who spoke by phone on Dec. 21, “shared the same concern about the increased flow of migration here in recent weeks and months — there has been a dramatic increase.”
Blinking spoke with Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
The president “did talk extensively about what could be done inside Mexico to slow down the process,” Kirby said. “And there are a number of things, like checkpoints on rail lines and on highways and things like that. And the presence of the Mexican Armed Forces in the south could also be important for that as well.
“But that’s in general, and I think it’s more to the point why Secretary Blinken and [White House adviser] Liz Sherwood-Randall and Secretary Mayorkas will be down there to see what can be done to restructure the modality a bit more.”
Ahead of his meeting with Blinken and Mayorkas, the left-wing Mexican leader eased US sanctions on the left-wing authoritarian governments of Cuba and Venezuela as a way to reduce immigration, along with increasing US development aid to countries where their citizens reside. move
Brief meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at Palacio Nacional. Photo by RODRIGO OROPEZA/AFP via Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump has routinely boasted in public statements that he is forcing Mexican leaders to increase troop levels along the border, including by using the threat of tariffs — and polls show immigration as a liability for Biden as he faces a possible re-election battle with Trump next year.
A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released Dec. 18 showed that 38% of registered voters approve of Biden’s handling of immigration — down eight points from 46% in November.
López Obrador previously credited Biden’s more welcoming rhetoric and policies with fueling the border crisis shortly after his inauguration in early 2021.
López Obrador and Biden spoke by phone about the border crisis on Dec. 21. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha
“They look [Biden] as an immigrant president, and many feel they will make it to the United States,” he said two months after Biden took office.
On his first day as president, Biden halted funding for Trump’s US-Mexico border wall. In June 2021, Biden ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required most asylum seekers arriving at the southern border to await a US court decision in Mexico.
Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris in March 2021 to begin working to address the “root causes” of migration, particularly in Central America. But the initiative has failed to reduce the growing number of crossings, including large contingents from countries outside the Western Hemisphere.
Nearly 2.5 million people were detained after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “tourists” who evaded authorities. There were nearly 2.4 million arrests in fiscal 2022, following a record-breaking 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.
A caravan of migrants gathers in Escuintla, Mexico on Dec. 27. REUTERS/Jose Torres
Many people who cross the border illegally are allowed into the US to await a court decision on their claims of persecution in their homeland. After an initial period, asylum seekers are eligible for work permits because their claims are inactive before the check-in system and a backlog of court dates.
The Biden-era borderline figure is a multiple of the previous annual total.
For example, during President Barack Obama’s last full fiscal year in office, from Oct. 1 2015, through September 30, 2016, there were only 408,870 people arrested for crossing the US-Mexico border illegally — a stop of less than two months in the current environment.
In a recent pivot, Mayorkas in October said it was necessary to resume construction of a 20-mile wall in South Texas, citing the “acute and urgent need to build physical barriers … to prevent illegal entry,” but Biden distanced himself from the measure and said he was only meeting the requirement to spend money appropriated by Congress for the purpose.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
