US, Mex. negotiators hail ‘success’ – as caravan walks on IT'S ALL TALK & NO ACTION
WASHINGTON — The US and Mexico released a joint statement on the migration crisis Thursday that was heavy on platitudes and support for asylum-seekers, but mentioned no action to stop a record-breaking wave of illegal immigration — and even teased the prospect of amnesty for those already here unlawfully.
Officials claimed a three-hour Mexico City meeting involving Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Mexican President Andrés Manuel
López Obrador was a success — but Thursday’s statement noted no agreed-upon steps to slow or stanch the deluge of migrants seeking asylum.
Notably, the statement said US and Mexican officials “discussed the benefit of regularizing the situation of long-term undocumented Hispanic migrants and DACA recipients, who are a vital part of the US economy and society” — suggesting the Biden administration might try to legislate a pathway to citizenship for both adult illegal immigrants and those brought to the US as children.
The communique also made sure to highlight “our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.”
Lack of progress
Critics ripped the administration for the lack of progress.
“At a time when America is experiencing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history, it is unconscionable to hear the Biden Administration’s announcement that Secretaries Mayorkas and
Blinken discussed with the President of Mexico amnesty for illegal immigrants,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement.
“The United States must focus on policies that deter — not attract — people attempting to come here illegally, and the smugglers who profit from the catastrophe at our border,” Johnson added. “This development further demonstrates the Administration has no real intention of solving the humanitarian disaster and immediate national security crisis their policies have created.”
“Continue its efforts?” Fox News border reporter Bill Melugin wrote on X. “What efforts? Mexico is enabling the chaos at the border by mass issuing humanitarian visas to migrants that allow them to travel through [Mexico] straight to the U.S. border . . . then they discard the visas on the ground when they cross illegally.”
Former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas), the first Mexican-born woman in Congress, wrote on X that the surge in illegal crossings was “orchestrated.”
“There have already been over 700,000 illegal migrant encounters at the southern border since October,” added Flores, who is running for Congress again next year. “December on pace to set highest month ever recorded. What has to happen for the Biden administration to secure our Border?”
A National Security Council rep said Blinken and Mayorkas had enjoyed a “productive trip.”
“President López Obrador has taken significant new enforcement actions yet we have a lot more work to do together,” the rep added. “President Biden’s Cabinet will meet again with Mexican leaders in DC in January to assess progress and decide what more can be done. We continue to address the root causes and build on legal pathways that incentivize orderly migration and enforcement of our laws.”
The NSC did not specify any new enforcement actions taken by Mexico, but may have been referring to the Obrador government’s saying last week that it had flown migrants from northern to southern Mexico for repatriation to their home countries.
Nearly 2 ½ million people were apprehended after crossing the Mexico border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 — in addition to an estimated 670,000 “gotaways” who eluded authorities.