(NewsSpace.com) – There’s no denying that the border crisis is continuing to spiral out of control. In December alone, more than 300,000 migrants crossed over the southern border, the majority of them illegally. With record numbers of immigrants approaching the US every day, the Biden administration has turned to Mexico to help stem the flow. However, Mexico has some stipulations for helping.
What Is Mexico Asking For?
In December, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Mexico, where they met with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly referred to as AMLO. In the meeting, the US officials asked for help in slowing down the number of migrants approaching the US border each month. At the time, neither side made any promises.
On Friday, January 5, López Obrador held a press conference during which he called on the US to agree to certain stipulations. One of those was providing $20 billion in aid to Caribbean and Latin American countries to help “address the causes” of migrants traveling to the US.
Additionally, López Obrador wants the US to grant work visas to Hispanic workers who have been employed in the country for at least 10 years, halt the blockade of Cuba, and end Venezuelan sanctions.
According to NBC News, a senior official in the Biden administration called AMLO’s agenda “ambitious,” and in order for the US to comply with some of the stipulations, Congress would have to act.
Call Between Presidents Biden and López Obrador
The latest demands from AMLO came after a call between the US and Mexican leaders. On December 21, President Joe Biden spoke with the Mexican president, and according to a White House readout, the pair “agreed that additional enforcement actions are urgently needed” to reopen “key ports of entry across [the] shared border.”
In order to cut down on immigration numbers, the US needs Mexico to allow it to continue to push non-Mexican migrants into its country. This was the policy through the early months of 2023, but it has since ceased after Title 42 was lifted. Currently, the two nations have an agreement in place that allows the US to push 30,000 migrants into Mexico, but that’s a small figure compared to those crossing the border.
The two countries are expected to continue negotiations later this month. Meanwhile, the issue of immigration continues to be a priority in both Congressional chambers, as conservatives are looking for the Biden administration to act on the border security issue before it agrees to any additional funding for Ukraine and Israel.
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