Senior US officials held a “very productive meeting” with their Mexican counterparts Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said, as Washington seeks help from Mexico City to drive down southern border crossings that have placed increasing pressure on President Joe Biden.
“The regional challenge of migration requires regional solutions and we appreciate Mexico’s commitment to continue its efforts alongside us and with others,” Mayorkas wrote on X, formerly Twitter, following a bilateral meeting also attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.
Officials from both countries said the talks went well, though initial statements following the meeting were somewhat light on details.
“As we made clear in Mexico City today, we are committed to partnering with Mexico to address our shared challenges, including managing unprecedented irregular migration in the region, reopening key ports of entry, and combating illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs,” Blinken said in a post on X.
In a post on X, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said “important agreements were reached for the benefit of our people and nations” during the talks, without giving details. “Now more than ever, a good neighbor policy is essential,” he added.
Immigration has been a political vulnerability for Biden amid fierce criticism from Republicans and some members of his own party over the situation at the US-Mexico border.
This month, the issue fell at the center of the president’s foreign policy agenda, as the White House lobbied for aid to Ukraine and Israel amid their war efforts. Lack of consensus over border policy changes ultimately kept Biden from clinching billions of dollars in funds for Ukraine, Israel and the border before the end of the year.
Homeland Security officials have in recent months discussed a range of ways Mexico can help drive down numbers at the US border, including moving migrants south, controlling the railways used by migrants to move north, and providing incentives to not journey to the border, like visas, to remain in the country and avoid migrating irregularly.
In January, Biden met with Lopez Obrador in Mexico City for the North American Leaders’ Summit, where, along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they addressed migratory flows in the region.
Nearly a year later – and despite a series of measures aimed at deterring irregular migration – the record number of migrants moving across the Western Hemisphere remains a pressing challenge for the US and Mexico.
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