Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a meeting at the presidential palace in Mexico City, Dec. 18, 2020
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed U.S. President Joe Biden for causing border turmoil, and at a news conference Tuesday (March 23), López Obrador said Democrats have set an “expectation” that illegal immigrants will feel better treated. of “expectations.”
“This has led to Central American immigrants, as well as immigrants from our country, wanting to cross the border, thinking it’s easier,” López Obrador said, adding that “people are not going to the United States for fun, they are crossing out of need.”
Lopez-Obrador’s comments follow a discussion session Tuesday between U.S. officials and Mexican officials on migration and regional development. Roberta Jacobson, chief White House border adviser and former U.S. ambassador, Juan González, senior director of the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere, and Ricardo Zúñiga, the newly appointed special envoy for the Northern Triangle, participated in the meeting.
A statement from the Mexican government said the U.S. delegation discussed “humanitarian actions to promote inclusive economic development in northern Central America in the short term” during a meeting with Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
Ebrard later emphasized the region’s shared goal of addressing migration, saying, “If we persevere and act together …… we can make a difference in the future of these countries and southern Mexico and have other more possibilities.” “No one has to migrate because of poverty, insecurity, desperation.”
In recent years, the northern triangle of Central American countries, including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, have been the largest source of migrants to the southern U.S. border.
Democrats say these migrants have been hit hard by endemic corruption and violence, as well as the economic impact of two recent hurricanes in November and the COVID-19 (Chinese Communist virus) pandemic, and as a result they have fled the country.
And critics say the confusion and misinformation displayed by Biden’s seemingly more humane immigration bill has been a contributing factor to the surge in illegal immigration, with many immigrants ready to try their luck at the border from the first months of the year.
Taking the opportunity of the meeting, Jacobson again sent a clear message to immigrants trying to get to the United States. In a message issued by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, Jacobson said in Spanish, “The border is closed.”
She also noted the dangers of smuggling migrants and traveling during the pandemic. “Stay Home, stay safe and wait for more information on the asylum process.”
Mexico is again under pressure as the U.S. demands a slowdown in the flow of migrants through its territory.
Last week, the Mexican government announced it would implement new measures at its southern border that would allow only basic border crossings due to pandemic concerns. Many observers see it as a cover for immigration enforcement rather than a way to stop the Epidemic.
Meanwhile, Mexico has deployed more immigration Specialists to the south and has said it will focus on intercepting unaccompanied children and families with children trying to cross the border.
In 2019, under pressure from the Trump administration, Mexico deployed a newly created National Guard to strengthen immigration enforcement.
The Biden Administration is taking a more diplomatically inclined approach, but again, Mexico’s cooperation is needed. In return, the U.S. government will support more development projects in Mexico.
Biden has said he wants to send $4 billion in development aid to Mexico, and says both sides are focused on protecting the human rights of migrants and on ensuring the safe and orderly movement of migrants. Ultimately, they want to reduce the push factors that drive migrants out of the country. The focus is on economic factors, but what remains to be seen is how the new U.S. administration will address more sensitive topics such as corruption in the region.
Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said that while the Biden administration is employing more diplomacy than Trump, the U.S. delegation came to try to “get the Mexicans to do some of the dirty work, which is once again to stop people from coming in from the southern border ”
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