SAN FRANCISCO – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday that President Biden was “humane” and “extraordinary” for opening a new “legal route” for immigration – as the cost of accommodating migrants has forced New York City to announce massive cuts to city services. such as education, hygiene and policing.
“We want to thank President Biden because he is the first president in recent times to open legal channels for migration,” the Mexican leader, known by his initials AMLO, said during a meeting with Biden on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific event. Economic Cooperation Conference (APEC).
“It is a humane way to deal with the phenomenon of migration,” he added.
“And I also want to state and say that he is the first president in the United States in recent times who did not build a wall,” AMLO raved — using outdated information, as the Biden administration actually approved 20 miles of a new wall in South Texas last month after previously closing canyon wall near Yuma, Arizona.
“We need to continue to support each other so migration is an option and not enforced. We want to help people in their countries of origin when they have to migrate,” continued the Mexican president.
President Joe Biden listens as he meets with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.AP
“You have an extraordinary president in the United States – a man of conviction, a good man,” he concluded.
AMLO previously credited Biden in early 2021 with inspiring a rush to the border in his first year in office, which continued unabated in the months that followed.
“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.
The reference to “legal passage” describes the “parole” program Biden launched in January to allow a combined 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to enter the US each month to await later decisions on asylum claims.
In the first six months, nearly 160,000 immigrants used the process, which requires background checks and US sponsors, potentially reducing their need for public assistance.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States walk near the border wall as members of the Texas National Guard patrol with the aim of preventing migrants from crossing into the United States.REUTERS
The parole program, which Republicans say exceeds Biden’s legal authority, was launched as Biden administration officials increasingly allowed people who crossed the US-Mexico border illegally into the country to await asylum decisions in pending proceedings.
So far, the passage of the new law has not prevented illegal border crossings from continuing to reach record highs — with a record-breaking 2.48 million apprehensions in fiscal 2023, which ends Sept. 30 — a figure that does not include immigrants evading authorities .
After the meeting, a senior Biden administration official said the two leaders would “continue active cooperation and … reaffirm their commitment to continue working on these issues.”
Instead of providing details on what leaders would do to address the staggering numbers of migration, the officials gave a bright picture of the leaders’ work on “very challenging issues,” with one official saying they “will argue that our cooperation with Mexico on migration has never been stronger.”
Biden and AMLO also discussed economic and climate issues, as well as the smuggling of fentanyl through Mexico and into the US, a senior administration official told reporters.
“It is a humane way to deal with the phenomenon of migration,” said the Mexican president.REUTERS
Fentanyl has killed an estimated 200,000 Americans since Biden took office and US leaders have come under fire from Republicans for not doing more to stop the drug’s export from China and its transit across the US-Mexico border.
The discussion came after Biden met Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said afterward that Xi had agreed to curb exports of powerful synthetic opioid precursors to America.
Illegal fentanyl that ends up in the United States typically comes from precursors shipped from China to Mexico, where it is manufactured in illegal laboratories and smuggled across the southern US border by Mexican cartels.
Biden discussed his conversation with Xi with the Mexican president and presented “any results from the presidential meeting to also work to address the challenge of precursor chemicals coming out of China.”
Ahead of the meeting, AMLO told Biden “we are fully aware of the damage it is causing to the youth of the United States” and “we are sincerely committed to continuing to help at our full capacity to prevent drug trafficking, which is the gateway to fentanyl and other chemical precursors.”
Pharmaceutical experts estimate that Fentanyl is about 100 times stronger than morphine, and can be bought cheaply and cut into other illegal drugs – often leaving users unaware they are using a deadly chemical until it’s too late.
The official said their fentanyl discussions also included “their efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations, address the public health challenges of drug demand and also find ways to invest in communities to provide alternatives to crime and drug trafficking.”
The pair spent “quite a bit of time” on the fentanyl issue, adding that dealing with the crisis involves “not only going after criminal groups, but also dealing with the importation of precursor chemicals at the ports.”
Officials said the work will also involve “finding shipments [and] logistics corridors, and pursuing the financial and supply chains that generate and fund the operations of these transnational criminal organizations.”
“I would also note that we are dealing with a vast criminal enterprise when it comes to this issue,” one official said. “There will often be organizations involved in both human trafficking and narcotics trafficking and both leaders are talking about having to address these challenges in a very holistic way.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
