US wants Mexico to stop migrants

US wants Mexico to stop migrants
full screen Migrants at Ciudad Juarez on the border between Mexico and the United States. Photo: Christian Chavez/AP/TT

After an American emergency call to Mexico to curb migration to the United States, Mexico’s president claims that important agreements have been made.

Who it would be, however, the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, does not go into in his post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The quick visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Alejandro Majorkas, head of the Department of Homeland Security, takes place at a time when the number of people entering the US from Mexico is higher than in a long time. It is said to be about 10,000 people without a permit per day.

Closed passages

The US has been forced to temporarily close border crossings. This is done to direct over resources to deal with the illegal passages. It has not been well received in Mexico, that people with permits are hindered.

President Joe Biden and his administration are under heavy pressure from Republicans to tighten the policy and allocate more money to strengthen the border. Republicans have also made it a condition of supporting Biden’s aid package for Ukraine, blocked for months.

Before the meeting with Blinken and the other Americans, López Obrador said that Mexico is already doing a lot to deal with migration through its own country. But, he added, people are leaving their homes because poverty and economic and social crises force them to do so. More must be done to create jobs and opportunities.

Can’t be stopped

– There is no one who can stop the migration, says Luis Garcia Villagran, activist and organizer of migrant caravans, to AFP in southern Mexico.

He believes that the migrants are used as a kind of currency in the contacts between Mexico and the United States.

– Now a billion dollar budget is being set to curb migration. But if they had all the gold and all the money in the world, they cannot stop people from seeking better living conditions, says Garcia Villagran.

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