US and Mexican officials will meet in Washington on Friday to discuss ways to curb illegal migration. As pressure mounts on the Biden administration to solve the problem related to the presidential elections to be held in November.
But neither side expects dramatic progress from Friday’s talks. The talks, which will be attended by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena, are a continuation of the discussions that began in Mexico on December 27. , when US officials flew into Mexico amid historic highs in illegal border crossings US-Mexico border.
After those talks, Mexico began deporting high-nationality Venezuelans crossing into the United States, and began preventing more migrants from Guatemala crossing into Mexico. These moves, as well as seasonal migration patterns, led to a sharp drop in the number of migrants crossing the border earlier in the year.
But U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the talks say Friday’s meeting is unlikely to yield results. “We don’t expect any major announcements tomorrow,” a senior US administration official told reporters on Thursday. Another senior US official said there would be more discussions over the next year.
Both parties have set clear goals For what they want from the talks going forward, according to sources who spoke to NBC News earlier this month.
Among the priorities for Mexico is getting the United States to agree to commit major figures to combating migration by “addressing the root causes,” meaning political corruption, violence and poverty in Western Hemisphere countries. A third senior US administration official said Thursday that the United States is interested in working with Mexico to address the root causes.
Earlier this month, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly called on the United States to provide $20 billion in aid to Latin American and Caribbean countries and to end sanctions against Venezuela. At the time, a US official said Lopez Obrador had an “ambitious agenda”.
Both US and Mexican officials have stressed that the ongoing talks are not operational in nature. For example, Mexico will not cut immigration aid to the United States unless it commits to spending $20 billion in the region. Two people familiar with the talks said Mexico is interested in curbing illegal migration because the northward flow of migrants also affects Mexico.
However, the US is highly dependent on Mexico’s willingness to help. As negotiations continue in Washington this week and throughout the year, Mexico retains a significant amount of leverage.