Biden, Mexican president discuss ‘unprecedented’ migration flow

President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador were virtually meeting Friday to discuss “unprecedented” flows of migrants and refugees at the US-Mexico border, a major political headache for the White House ahead of the November elections.

The call, set to begin for 1:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), focuses on the increasingly complex relationship between the two massive neighbours, which is inextricably linked through trade, both legal and illegal migration, and the violent narcotics industry.

With all of these issues looming over the upcoming regional Summit of the Americas in June, Biden will emphasise his willingness to work with Lopez Obrador. This is in contrast to Donald Trump’s confrontational approach, according to the White House.

“Over the last year, we have worked very hard to rebuild the bilateral relationship,” a senior US government official told reporters.

Right at the top of the agenda, with Biden’s Democrats potentially facing heavy defeats in November midterm congressional elections, is illegal immigration.

The issue has vexed US administrations for decades, with the country relying on cheap migrant labor yet struggling to control the ever-growing flow of undocumented arrivals, including asylum seekers.

The official said “monumental challenges” around the world, ranging from climate change to the war in Ukraine and food insecurity, were prompting “unprecedented levels of migration.”

The already messy situation at the southern border is heating up with Biden’s attempt to end Title 42, a rule instituted during the Covid pandemic as a way to quickly expel migrants and asylum seekers, rather than let them stay in the United States while their cases are heard.

Opponents see the rule as no longer justified, but Republicans and even some of Biden’s own party warn that lifting the measure will trigger an uncontrolled surge in border crossings. Although the rule was set to expire May 23, a court order means it remains in place for now.

Both sides of the political divide in Washington agree there’s a problem.

The White House talks of a “broken” immigration system that Congress should fix, while Republicans accuse Biden of failing to protect the country’s southern frontier.

US Customs and Border Protection registered 7,800 undocumented migrants a day along the southwest border in the past three weeks — almost five times the average of 1,600 recorded from 2014-2019, before the coronavirus outbreak.

But where Trump made political capital with a project to reinforce barriers and walls along the border, the Biden administration is doubling down on its theory that only a more complex, collaborative approach can work.

“Given our shared border, we must do this together — and as a region,” the US official said, referring to the challenge of managing the expected surge should Title 42 be lifted.

The phrase most frequently heard from the Biden White House when explaining its approach to the migration problem is “root causes,” referring to economic, security, political, and, increasingly, climate strains driving people out of poorer countries to the south.

“We have many challenges before us, but we can tackle them better when we work in partnership,” the official said. “What I will say is that the mechanisms for cooperation with Mexico had not been functioning during the previous administration.”