Top level talks to stem wave of migrants

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held talks in Mexico in hopes of tackling surging migration, which has become a major political headache for President Joe Biden as he enters an election year.

The unusual Christmas week trip by the top American diplomat was abruptly scheduled as the rival Republican Party presses Biden to crack down on migration as a condition for providing the votes in Congress for one of his key priorities – support for Ukraine.

Blinken held just over two hours of closed-door talks with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other top Mexican officials during the one-day visit.

Lopez Obrador, who spoke to Biden by telephone last week, said before the meeting that Mexico was “helping a lot” and would continue to do so.

“People leave their towns out of necessity and there’s a lot of economic and social crisis in the world. It’s necessary to further promote productive activities and job creation,” he said.

Around 10,000 people without authorisation are trying to cross the southern US border each day, nearly double the number before the pandemic, with a new caravan of hundreds, if not thousands, of people heading by foot since the past weekend.

“Nobody’s going to stop migration,” activist and caravan organiser Luis Garcia Villagran said, complaining that migrants were being treated as “currency” by the US and Mexican governments.

“With all the gold and money in the world they cannot stop people seeking better living conditions,” he told reporters in southern Mexico.