“Discussion of ongoing efforts to manage unprecedented immigration”
U.S. President Joe Biden plans to dispatch high-level officials to Mexico to respond to the surge in illegal immigration from Mexico.
According to The Hill on the 21st (local time), White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman John Kirby announced at a briefing that Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are scheduled to visit Mexico.
“We will discuss with the President of Mexico and his team what additional steps we can take together to resolve the current border issues,” Kirby said.
Prior to this, President Biden spoke on the phone with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on this day and said, “We discussed ongoing efforts to manage unprecedented migration flows in the Western Hemisphere.”
“The two leaders agreed that further action is urgently needed to ensure that key ports of entry across our shared border can reopen,” Kirby said.
They reportedly shared concerns about the dramatic increase in the influx of migrants and discussed extensively what could be done within Mexico to slow it. He added that there were also discussions about mobilizing the Mexican military.
The Biden administration plans to detail its response plan during a high-level official’s visit to Mexico. Spokesperson Kirby said, “We will identify the actual immigration flows and talk about what more we can do together.”
He said, “There has been excellent cooperation” between the two countries and “given the record level of immigrants, (cooperation) will be able to expand.”
This meeting between leaders and a high-level visit to Mexico by a high-ranking U.S. official is interpreted as taking place as the budget bill, including support for Ukraine, faces difficulties in Congress due to the immigration issue.
The Biden administration’s package budget for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is blocked by the Republican Party and is pending in Congress. Republican lawmakers are opposing the budget plan, saying immigration policy and border security-related issues should be prioritized.
It is estimated that about 10,000 illegal immigrants cross the southern border into the United States every day.
The three minimum ports of entry in Texas, Arizona and California are reportedly closed to foot and vehicle traffic, and on the 17th, Customs and Border Patrol announced they would close two railroad crossings due to the surge in migrants despite the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. .
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.