Immigration: Blinken to travel to Mexico next week with high-ranking US delegation
The talks will focus on the "extraordinary" migration situation, López Obrador told journalists. Mexico would step up its efforts to curb irregular migration, particularly in the south near the border with Guatemala. "The agreement is that we will continue to work together and we already have a proposal to strengthen our plans".
According to the US State Department, at the meeting the delegation will "emphasize the urgent need for legal pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region." Secretary Blinken will outline ways that Mexico and the U.S. "will address border security challenges," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Friday. This included "measures to enable the reopening of key border points on the shared border".
The previous day, the White House had announced that the group sent by President Biden would meet with López Obrador to discuss "current challenges at the border".
The US Border Patrol has reported around 10,000 border crossings per day in recent weeks. In the previous financial year, there were around 2.4 million border crossings. The Mexican head of state also admitted that the number of migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Ecuador on their way through Mexico to the USA had increased.
Border policy is a particularly controversial issue in the USA and is politically extremely sensitive for Biden. The Republicans accuse the Democrat of allowing hundreds of thousands of foreigners into the country unchecked and fuel fears of an increase in crime and drug problems. Biden has recently promised the Republicans concessions on the issue if they agree to new military aid for Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia, in return.
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Source: www.stern.de
