Biden sending team to Mexico "in coming days" for border talks

Washington DC - A top-level US delegation will soon head to Mexico to discuss concerns on migration, the White House said Thursday, after telephone talks between Presidents Joe Biden and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

A top-level US delegation will head shortly to Mexico to discuss concerns on migration, the White House said Thursday, after telephone talks between Presidents Joe Biden (r.) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (l.)
A top-level US delegation will head shortly to Mexico to discuss concerns on migration, the White House said Thursday, after telephone talks between Presidents Joe Biden (r.) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (l.)  © Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Biden asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood Randall to travel to Mexico "in coming days," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The Biden team will "meet with President Lopez Obrador and his team to discuss further actions that can be taken together to address current border challenges," Kirby said.

The talks and trip come as the rival Republican Party pushes Biden's Democrats for major changes on immigration policy in exchange for approving a package of emergency assistance for Ukraine and Israel.

Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum hits back at Trump tariffs and anti-migrant rhetoric in defiant letter
Mexico Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum hits back at Trump tariffs and anti-migrant rhetoric in defiant letter

Kirby said there has been a "dramatic increase" in migration across the border, largely from violence-ravaged Central American nations.

In their telephone call Thursday, Biden and Lopez Obrador "shared a similar concern about the increase in migratory flow here in recent weeks," Kirby said.

The two presidents talked "in broad terms about what can be done inside Mexico to slow that process down," he said.

Ideas include stepping up checkpoints on rail lines and highways and expanding the security presence on Mexico's southern border, Kirby said.

Cover photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

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