US to Mexico: More needed to slow migrants
MEXICO CITY — The Biden administration has been quietly pressing Mexico to curb the stream of mi grants coming to the United States, urging it to take in more families being expelled by U.S. authorities and to step up enforcement at its southern border with Guatemala, according to Mexican officials and others briefed on the discussions.
President Joe Biden has moved quickly to dismantle some of former President Donald Trump’s signature immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, stopping the swift expulsion of children at the border and proposing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States.
But he is clinging to a key element of Trump’s agenda: relying on Mexico to restrain a wave of people making their way to the United States.
Anticipating a surge of migrants and the most apprehensions by U.S. agents at the border in two decades, Biden asked President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico this month whether more could be done to help solve the problem, according to Mexican officials and another person briefed on the conversation.
A Biden administration official declined to comment on discussions with Mexico but noted that both countries shared a common goal of reducing migration by addressing its root causes and said they were working closely to stem the flow of people streaming to the border.
Mexico has agreed to increase its presence on its southern border with Guatemala to deter migration from Central America, one of the government officials said, and local Mexican officials say their country has recently stepped up efforts to stop migrants on the northern border with the United States.