Washington (AFP) – Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena told the United States at a meeting in Washington on Friday that her country would help “in the fight” against irregular migration and hoped others would “show solidarity with them.”
First change: January 19, 2024 – 9:21 p.m. Last change: January 19, 2024 – 9:19 p.m
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This is “a follow-up meeting” to the December 27 meeting in Mexico, Bárcena explained at the beginning of the meeting.
U.S. diplomatic chief Antony Blinken said they had “made great progress in just three weeks since that meeting,” without elaborating.
“We look forward to reviewing this today and considering further steps we can take together to advance the shared goal of stemming the unprecedented rise in irregular migration,” he added.
Authorities intercepted migrants and asylum seekers at the border with Mexico more than 242,000 times last November, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. December figures were not published.
Bárcena delivered a message to Washington from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“We want to help and support this great task, this great struggle that we are all experiencing, which is high human mobility,” he explained.
It's a welcome message for Democratic President Joe Biden, who is under intense pressure from Republicans who are demanding tough immigration measures as a condition for Congress' approval of more aid to Ukraine.
The details of negotiations in Congress are currently unknown, but Biden could tighten immigration policy as he also faces criticism from Democratic governors who are overwhelmed by the influx of migrants.
Bárcena, who is leading a high-level delegation, agreed to “address the factors that contribute to irregular migration” and hopes that other countries in the region “show solidarity with Mexico and the United States.” “It’s not just a problem for us,” he said.
Help from Guatemala
In this sense, Blinken says he is counting on the support of Guatemala's new president, Bernardo Arévalo.
His inauguration “opens a new and important area of migration cooperation between our three countries,” he estimated.
“No major announcements are expected from the meeting,” a US official, who wished to remain anonymous, said in a telephone press conference on Thursday.
The migration crisis is of particular interest in both countries this election year, with presidential elections in June in Mexico and November in the United States in which Biden could face his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, as a rival.
Two ways
Tensions between Democrats and conservatives over the immigration crisis are spilling over into Mexico.
Trump threatened to close the border with his neighbor and conduct “the largest internal expulsion operation” in history if he returned to the White House because he believes migrants are “poisoning the blood of the country.”
The López Obrador government is currently negotiating with the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.
This Trump supporter blocked Federal Border Patrol from entering a section of the border.
Last Friday, a Mexican woman and two children drowned while trying to cross without federal officials being able to access the site to provide aid.
Mexico had other conflicts with him.
The Latin American country has already protested against the buoys and barbed wires installed in the Rio Grande as well as a Texas law that criminalizes migrants who enter the state illegally through detention.
However, the constant recriminations of Republicans accusing Mexico of not doing enough to combat the fentanyl trade, which Washington says is run by Mexican drug cartels, appear to have been put behind them.
The relationship between Mexico and the United States is “strong, resilient, deep and loving,” said Bárcena, who quoted the American poet Robert Frost and believes that the two countries must choose between two paths and choose “the path less traveled.” decide but it will make a difference” because we are great allies.
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