Secretary of State Antony Blinken leads the US delegation, which also includes Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House national security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.
According to the White House, the meeting will allow the parties to discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways in which Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including measures to reopen ports of entry at the joint Border.
The caravan from some 24 nations, made up of more than eight thousand asylum seekers, began its march on Christmas Eve in Tapachula in southern Mexico and hopes to reach the border with more than 15,000 members.
Last week, President Joe Biden spoke with López Obrador about the immigration crisis, which promises a complicated end to the year.
In their call, the two heads of state and government agreed that “additional law enforcement measures are urgently needed.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump escalated his anti-immigrant rhetoric with phrases calling foreigners seeking to settle here “the poison in the blood” of this country.
Trump, polls the favorite among candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination, said he would carry out mass deportations when he returns to the presidential residence in January 2025.
According to federal authorities, there were more than two million encounters with migrants at the southern border of the United States in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and the influx currently shows no signs of slowing.
In November alone, nearly a quarter of a million undocumented people crossed the divide, a new high this month and the third-highest number in history.
Border security, which continues to be a vulnerability for Biden in 2024, was the focus this month of ongoing negotiations over an immigration deal tied to Ukraine's request for additional military aid.
The Senate – which postponed its Christmas recess – failed to reach an agreement and lawmakers decided to leave Washington, meaning a possible meeting point will not be possible until members of Congress return to the Capitol on January 8.
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