Biden, Mexico’s president talk migration

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he spoke with President-elect Joe Biden by phone Saturday, five days after he sent a tardy and somewhat chilly letter of congratulations.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to work together for the good of our peoples and our countries,” Lopez Obrador wrote in his social media accounts.

Biden’s transition team said the two discussed migration, apparently with a focus on a theme that Lopez Obrador has championed: developing jobs and opportunities so people won’t have to migrate.

“The President-elect emphasized the need to reinvigorate U.S.-Mexico cooperation to ensure safe and orderly migration, contain COVID-19, revitalize the economies of North America, and secure our common border,” said a statement posted on Biden’s transition website.

“The two leaders noted a shared desire to address the root causes of migration in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and southern Mexico and to build a future of greater opportunity and security for the region,” the statement said. “They discussed working together on a new approach to regional migration that offers alternatives to undertaking the dangerous journey to the United States.”

Biden also pledged “to build the regional and border infrastructure and capacity needed to facilitate a new orderly and humane approach to migration that will respect international norms regarding the treatment of asylum claims.”

Lopez Obrador said he intentionally waited until the Electoral College vote before writing to Biden. The brief letter contained an implicit warning against getting involved in Mexico’s internal affairs.