Shows of goodwill between the governments of Mexico and the United States collapsed with the announcement of 32 new kilometers of border wall between the two countries. During their visit to Mexico City, the delegation of senior officials from Joe Biden’s administration was forced to make statements to their Mexican neighbors recognizing their “concern” and the poor timing of the fence expansion south of Texas. “We would rather build bridges than walls,” said Secretary of State Alicia Bárcena in a joint press conference with her American counterpart Antony Blinken. “We had no choice,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, said this Thursday, emphasizing that the resources for the construction had already been allocated during the administration of Donald Trump and that they were legally obliged to use them for this task to provide.
“In the Mexican government we are cautious and against the existence of walls,” Bárcena said as she explained her country’s position on the surprise announcement. Mayorkas posted a message on his . “This administration has made it clear from day one that border walls are not the solution,” said the statement, which Mayorkas read to media from both countries.
“I want to be very clear,” Mayorkas said a few times before indulging in the explanations. “There is no new government policy on the border wall,” the senior official said with a hint of unease. The Homeland Security Secretary added that the decision had already been made since June last year and that for legal reasons the official decree had to be published. The controversy in the United States is that the Biden administration has canceled 26 laws that stood in the way of the construction of the fence to be erected in Starr County, one of the red lights in the exodus of undocumented immigrants.
Antony Blinken, Alicia Bárcena, Alejandro Mayorkas, Rosa Icela Rodríguez and Ken Salazar on October 5 in Mexico City. José Méndez (EFE)
The unease grew as Mexican media called on Bárcena to clarify the position of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government, which had praised Biden for being “the only US president who did not build walls.” “Unfortunately it coincides with the visit,” the Chancellor let slip. The American president had already announced his office in the White House a few hours earlier in the same way as Mayorkas. The president, who promised during the 2020 campaign not to extend the border fence, said he could not convince Congress to change how the resources were used. “There is nothing in the laws that tells them they can use that money for anything other than the purpose for which it was provided. “I can’t stop it,” he commented. Reporters asked him whether the wall would effectively stop immigration. Biden simply answered “No.”
The announcement also came as a surprise within the ranks of the Democratic Party and caused discontent. “The President must take responsibility for his decision and back down,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented in a statement. “The Biden administration was not obligated to expand border wall construction, and it was certainly not obligated to repeal multiple environmental laws to expedite construction,” he added.
Migration was identified as one of the main topics on the bilateral agenda and played a central role in the high-level security dialogue between both countries. The US delegation repeatedly emphasized that this was the first time the immigration issue had been included in this bilateral security meeting. Blinken himself acknowledged that this was a sign that migration is high on the list of US national security priorities. “The presence of so many officials reflects the importance of our alliance with Mexico,” the foreign minister said.
“Mexico is not a manufacturer of fentanyl”
The other topic that has dominated the visit by Blinken, Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland is combating the fentanyl crisis. That wasn’t without controversy either. “Mexico is not a producer of fentanyl, it is a transit area,” said Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, leading the Mexican delegation. Just minutes later, Garland spoke about the synthetic drug distribution chain and how the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel “produce and smuggle fentanyl from Mexico into the United States.”
The apparent contradiction was noticed by Mexican journalists, who asked Rodríguez and Bárcena to clarify. “There is no contradiction,” Rodríguez said. “Chemical precursors are not produced in Mexico, they come from Asia,” the security minister initially said. “Mexico does not produce fentanyl,” he added. The official said the synthetic drug laboratories found by law enforcement mainly produce methamphetamines.
Mexico’s refusal to acknowledge that the opioid is manufactured on its territory has been one of the most contentious issues in Washington and a recurring point of criticism from Republicans of the Biden administration. Bárcena spoke out again after Rodríguez’s intervention, saying that there are “no legal laboratories” in the Latin American country that produce fentanyl, but acknowledged that there are “illegal laboratories” that do so. U.S. officials did not comment further on the Mexican ministers’ reciprocal interventions. Later, the Mexican foreign minister insisted on this point. “There is no rejection. “We are facing a different problem,” he said of fentanyl use in Mexico.
“We are partners and allies,” Bárcena said, reaffirming the “excellent state of bilateral relations.” The Chancellor also called for moving away from the narratives facing both countries and called on both governments to continue working together to combat organized crime, human trafficking and arms trafficking, as well as to address the migration crisis. The extradition of Ovidio Guzmán, El Chapo’s son, was also mentioned in the conference from the National Palace, as was Washington’s announcement that it would resume mass deportations of Venezuelans. “His extradition is a powerful example of what we can achieve when we work together,” Garland said.
Blinken emphasized an “unprecedented partnership” between the two countries, but also said that the current challenges also bear no comparison to the past. Both countries are concluding the high-level security dialogues planned for this year with renewed promises and new agreements, although not free of differences, constraints and friction in the context of presidential elections on both sides of the border next year.
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