Top officials from the United States and Mexico are scheduled to convene in Mexico City on Wednesday for high-level discussions. The talks aim to address the significant uptick in migrant movement across the region, as noted by the White House.
The American delegation will include Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will oversee the bilateral meeting.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry has indicated that the gathering will serve as a platform to reinforce the collaborative efforts on migration, emphasizing the enhancement of lawful migration channels.
As part of previous agreements, Mexico consented in May to accept migrants from countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba who were denied entry at the U.S. border due to non-compliance with asylum or migration regulations.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, there were 242,418 migrant encounters in November. This figure is in line with the numbers from October and the same period the previous year, yet it represents an increase of approximately 70,000 compared to November of the prior year.
The U.S. recently shut down two railway crossings with Mexico for a short period. The closures were a response to migrants using freight trains for travel and the necessity to reassign Customs and Border Protection officers to support the U.S. Border Patrol in processing migrants.
In the days preceding the Mexico City meeting, a migrant caravan comprising about 6,000 individuals set out from Tapachula, located near Mexico’s border with Guatemala. This movement marked one of the most significant migrant groups in over a year.
Ahead of the bilateral talks, U.S. President Joe Biden and President López Obrador held a phone conversation discussing potential measures to curb the flow of migrants heading towards the U.S. border. White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby highlighted the topics of rail and highway checkpoints and the deployment of the Mexican military in the southern regions of Mexico. The upcoming discussions will aim to elaborate on such measures.
The information in this report includes contributions from both The Associated Press and Reuters.
U.S. and Mexican officials are set to meet in Mexico City to address the significant rise in migrant flow through the region. The U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, will discuss cooperation on migration with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Mexico, which has previously agreed to accept certain migrants rejected by the U.S., continues to see large groups of migrants, such as the 6,000 people who recently left Tapachula. The U.S. has also temporarily closed some rail crossings to manage migrant movement and is looking to enhance measures like rail and highway checkpoints, as well as Mexican military presence in the south.
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