The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, came to Mexico on Wednesday aiming to manage the increasing migration flow. Blinken met with Mexican President, Emmanuel Lopez Obrador, discussing the escalating migration issues along their shared border. These high-level discussions coincided with the approaching 2024 presidential elections, adding pressure to US President Joe Biden.
After their meeting on Wednesday: both presidents had a phone conversation emphasizing the urgency of addressing border security. This visit aligns with increased pressure from the Republican Party on President Biden to take action on the surging migration numbers.
The Republicans: have made the demand a prerequisite to vote in favor of one of the key priorities of the Biden administration, which is to provide aid and support to Ukraine.
The meeting: comes as a fresh wave of up to 15,000 migrants is set to hit base in the already brimming US border. A caravan of about 8,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Cuba, Haiti, and Honduras, are on the move towards the borders. Separately, in the past week, over 10,000 people crossed over the borders every single day.
After the high-level meeting: Antony Blinken shared insights on key agreements from the discussion on his Platform X social media account. The Secretary of State emphasized the mutual commitment of both countries to collaborate on addressing common challenges.
While the Mexican President: has agreed to reduce the scores of people who cross over from Mexico, he pressed for understanding the root cause of migration. He has asked the United States to give financial aid to the lagging Latin American nations where people are forced to flee to look out for better opportunities. The President also spoke about the removal of restrictive US sanctions from the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, in order to help the countries prosper.
President Obrador: stressed in his speech that migration could be a game-changer in US politics. Candidates like Donald Trump made it a major issue, promising tough actions against migrants if they returned to power. There’s a possibility of similar rhetoric in future elections. The current emphasis on border control aims to tackle the persisting surge in migrant arrivals. In both 2022 and 2023, over two million people were stopped while trying to cross the Southern borders, marking a record high.
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