Photo: JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 29 Apr 2022, 02: 29 pm EDT
WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY – US President Joe Biden proposed this Friday in talks with his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a common strategy in the face of the “unprecedented” flow of migrants that is arriving at the common border.
Both leaders held a virtual meeting that the White House described as “constructive” and López Obrador called it “cordial” , at a time when Biden is concerned about the arrival at the southern border of the United States of a unprecedented number of undocumented immigrants.
“Most of the conversation was focused on migration, and dealt with (…) taking steps to reduce the migration at the (common) border,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at her daily press briefing.
The virtual meeting, to which the press did not have access , yes e took place a few weeks before the IX Summit of the Americas, to be held in June in Los Angeles, California, and in which it is likely that both leaders will meet in person.
Record of arrival of immigrants in March
Biden, who did not want to comment on the meeting during a later event at the White House, asked López Obrador how to jointly manage “the unprecedented migratory flows” that the United States is receiving, A high-ranking American official, who requested anonymity, explained before the meeting. years in the arrests of undocumented immigrants at the US border. with Mexico: border authorities intercepted migrants 221,303 times, the 33 % more than in February, according to data from the Office Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The nationality of arriving migrants is also changing: the 40 % of those intercepted in March were neither from Mexico nor from Central American countries, and many arrived from Cuba, Nicaragua or Colombia, according to the same data.
At the moment, the United States automatically deports most of the undocumented who arrive at its southern border, without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum, by virtue of a rule known as Title 54 and that it is covered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The uncertain future of the Title 29
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced its plan to rescind the next 23 May the application of the Title 42, which was imposed in 2020 under the mandate of Donald Trump and that Biden has maintained.
However, that plan is in the hands of a Louisiana judge, who has suspended for 14 days preparations of the Administration to do away with that norm.
The magistrate has set a hearing for the next day 13 May, in which a definitive resolution could be adopted on the future of the Title 42.
Although it is not clear if the measure will finally end on 23 May, the issue has entered strongly into the political debate in the United States , where the Republican opposition tries to extract partisan revenue from the perspective iva of a massive migratory wave when that norm ends.
Six months before the legislative elections in November, the White House wants to avoid a humanitarian crisis on the border that could harm the candidates Democrats, and is already preparing a plan to strengthen the border area with Mexico.
Marking distances with Trump
The call between Biden and López Obrador took place in that context, but the The White House did not clarify whether the US president made any specific request to the Mexican to reinforce the southern border of Mexico and prevent the passage of more undocumented immigrants heading to the US
Of course, the White House spokeswoman wanted to distinguish the position of the US president from that of his predecessor, and stressed that Biden was not “threatening the Mexican president in any way” , as Trump did.
The virtual meeting between Biden and López Obrador took place a week before the latter undertakes a trip to Cuba and Central America, countries of origin of many of the migrants who are arriving at the common border.
Both presidents agreed that Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will visit Washington this Monday “to advance on issues of cooperation for development and on the Summit of the Americas,” López Obrador revealed in a tweet after the call.
Biden has advanced that its main objective at the Summit of the Americas is “to map out a new regional approach to improve the way” in which migration is managed “jointly in the region for the next decade,” he said in a statement this month.
Even if the United States rescinds the so-called Title 54, the Biden government intends to “significantly expand” the rapid expulsions of undocumented immigrants at the border through Title 8 of the United States Code of Laws, which is the body of federal law that deals with immigration and nationality.
You may be interested:
– Federal judge determines that the government cannot terminate the application of the Title 42
– Biden administration to migrants: “The border is not open”– Plan on the Biden border when the Title ends 42 includes accelerated removals of immigrants and increased surveillance