United States President Joe Biden on Friday asked his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador for assistance in stemming unprecedented migration reaching their shared border.
The conversation was conducted virtually and “most of it (…) focused on migration and dealt with (…) measures to reduce migration at the (common) border”.
This is intended to “reduce migration at the border,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reported at a news conference.
The White House also noted that to achieve this goal, they “agreed to enhance cooperation to support fair, humane and effective efforts to reduce irregular migration and advance the common goal that countries in the region Improving border management skills”.
President Biden pointed to the need to apply tougher immigration measures in the exchange, which took place behind closed doors and without press involvement.
For his part, López Obrador said the meeting was cordial and that Secretary of State Marcelo Ebrand will visit Washington next week to “advance cooperation issues for development and the Americas Summit.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said border security intercepted 221.33 cases. Meanwhile, Mexico’s Interior Ministry’s National Migration Institute (INM) reported that it had rescued more than five thousand migrants in recent weeks.
Most of them are from Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The bilateral meeting comes amid the process to remove the Title 42 legislation imposed by the Donald Trump administration in 2020, which allowed border officials to deport immigrants without giving them time to seek asylum.
The repeal of this law may increase the number of migrants arriving at the common border of these countries
In addition, the IX. Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California, shortly before, where Joe Biden and López Obrador can have face-to-face talks on the subject.