Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that his government would step up efforts to contain irregular migration flows, ahead of a high-level US visit next week.
The pledge came a day after Lopez Obrador spoke with US President Joe Biden by telephone about the hot-button issue.
Lopez Obrador said the “extraordinary” migration situation would be the focus of talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials in Mexico City on Wednesday.
He said that Mexico would boost containment measures in the south near the Guatemalan border.
“The agreement is that we continue working together and we already have a proposal to reinforce our plans,” Lopez Obrador said.
Blinken will be accompanied on his visit by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood Randall, the Biden administration said Thursday.
US border police have in recent weeks reported approximately 10,000 crossings every day.
The previous fiscal year, from October 2022 through September 2023, saw a record 2.4 million encounters by US border patrol with migrants, including at both official ports of entry and elsewhere along the southern border.
On Tuesday, authorities closed two rail bridge crossings on the Mexico-Texas border — in Eagle Pass and El Paso — in an attempt to limit illegal entries on freight trains.
Vehicle crossings meanwhile have been suspended in Eagle Pass since the beginning of the month, as well as at an entry point in Arizona and California.
The talks come as the rival Republican Party pushes Biden’s Democrats for major changes on immigration policy in exchange for approving a package of emergency assistance for Ukraine and Israel.
