Officials in the government of Mexico met with a delegation from the U.S. to discuss the ongoing migrant crisis at the border. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Mexico City to discuss the issues with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who expressed desire to cooperate but in exchange requested improved relations between America and the socialist nations of Cuba and Venezuela, which have been a major source of the immigration waves.
Lopez Obrador also tried to convince the American officials to agree to send more aid money for developing South America. On a different occasion, he urged U.S. lawmakers to give more to the impoverished countries in the Caribbean and in South America “instead of putting up barriers, barbed wire fences in the river, or thinking about building walls.”
According to the American delegation, the meeting lasted two hours, and the Mexican officials presented their plan on how migrant surge could be stemmed. “We have seen in recent days a pretty significant reduction in in border crossings,” said another official. “So again, this is not something that the U.S. and Mexico will be able to address on or off on their own. So I would say the majority of our conversation actually focused on work that we’re doing together in the region.”
🇲🇽🇺🇸 A top-level #US delegation will head to #Mexico soon to discuss concerns on migration, the White House said Thursday, after the two countries' leaders spoke on the phone and agreed urgent action was needed pic.twitter.com/UFMRG0TbdO
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) December 22, 2023
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Mexico’s major preoccupation is convincing America to reopen points of entry at the border that it had sealed to oppose the migrant flows. During the week of Dec. 18th, the Mexican economy was hurt after America closed two railway crossings in Texas. This is what brought them to the bargaining table. Similar closings occurred in San Diego, CA, Nogales, AZ, and one in Lukeville, AZ remains closed. As their official reason, the U.S. said border patrol agents at these sites had to be relocated to other vulnerable areas.
“We spoke about the importance of the border, and about the economic relationship […] the importance of reopening the border crossings, that is a priority for us,” said Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Barcena.
As proof that it is willing to cooperate, the Mexican government ordered the destruction of a migrant hotspot that was constructed in 2022 and held as many as 1,500 migrants at a single time. Beginning on Tuesday, Mexico began clearing away migrant encampments in the border city of Matamoros, which sits directly across from Brownsville, Texas. Workers operating bulldozers and wielding machetes chopped down tents, some of which had occupants, continuing into the following day as Blinken met with the president. Other attendees included U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.
Mexico has officially designated over 32,000 troops, or about 11 percent of its total armed forces, to immigration law enforcement duty. The Mexican National Guard now detains more migrants than criminals. Nevertheless, its incompetency was shown on Tuesday, Dec. 26th when the Guard allowed a caravan of 6,000 migrants to pass through an immigration checkpoint located in the heart of Mexico. The caravan was comprised of Venezuelans and people from Central America, among other countries. The Guard reportedly believes such caravans do not need to be stopped, as they will “tire themselves out” while walking the highways.
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