A high-level US delegation will travel to Mexico soon to discuss migration concerns, according to the White House, after the two nations’ leaders spoke over the phone and agreed that immediate action was required.
According to a White House readout, Presidents Joe Biden and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador discussed continued “efforts to manage migratory flows,” as well as the need for rapid enforcement measures.
The presidents spoke after authorities in two US border states, Texas and Arizona, took unprecedented moves in recent days to reduce illegal crossings, accusing the federal government of inaction.
Biden requested that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood Randall visit to Mexico “in the coming days,” according to the readout.
In recent weeks, US border patrol has reported roughly 10,000 crossings every day. From October 2022 to September 2023, border patrol encountered a record 2.4 million migrants, including at both legal ports of entry and elsewhere along the southern border.
Authorities shuttered two rail bridge crossings on the Mexico-Texas border on Tuesday, at Eagle Pass and El Paso, in an effort to kerb unlawful entry on freight trains.
Meanwhile, vehicle crossings at Eagle Pass, as well as at entrance points in Arizona and California, have been halted since the beginning of the month.
Biden and Lopez Obrador “agreed that additional enforcement actions are urgently needed so that key ports of entry can be reopened,” according to a White House readout.
The United States delegation will, according to the statement, “meet with President Lopez Obrador to discuss further actions that can be taken together to address current border challenges.”
