Current:Home > InvestMexico’s president is willing to help with border migrant crush but wants US to open talks with Cuba-LoTradeCoin
Mexico’s president is willing to help with border migrant crush but wants US to open talks with Cuba
lotradecoin charts View Date:2024-12-25 12:40:33
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Friday that he is willing to help out with a surge of migrants that led to the closure of border crossings with the United States, but he wants the U.S. government to open talks with Cuba and send more development aid to migrants’ home countries.
The comments by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came a day after the U.S. announced that a delegation of top U.S. officials would visit Mexico for talks on how to enforce immigration rules at the two countries’ shared border.
López Obrador confirmed that U.S. officials want Mexico to do more to block migrants at its southern border with Guatemala, or make it more difficult to move across Mexico by train or in trucks or buses, a policy known as “contention.”
But the president said that in exchange he wanted the United States to send more development aid to migrants’ home countries, and to reduce or eliminate sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.
“We are going to help, as we always do,” López Obrador said. “Mexico is helping reach agreements with other countries, in this case Venezuela.”
“We also want something done about the (U.S.) differences with Cuba,” López Obrador said. “We have already proposed to President (Joe) Biden that a U.S.-Cuba bilateral dialogue be opened.”
“That is what we are going to discuss, it is not just contention,” he said at his daily morning press briefing.
Mexico is apparently offering to negotiate with Venezuela, whose people make up a large part of the surge of migrants at the U.S. southwestern border. That surge has led U.S. officials to pull immigration officers away from two Texas border rail crossings that are vital to Mexico’s economy.
López Obrador has long opposed U.S. sanctions on Cuba, whose migrants are also streaming to the U.S. border. And the Mexican president has long pressed the United States to contribute to a tree-planting program and to youth scholarship and apprentice programs that he has been pushing for Central America.
López Obrador said the development aid will help stem residents’ need to migrate.
The Mexico-U.S. meetings come as Republican and Democratic lawmakers are debating border policy changes as part of a larger conversation over U.S. assistance for Ukraine and Israel, which are top foreign policy priorities for the White House.
Pressure mounted on Mexico following the closure of two railroad crossings in Texas earlier this week. U.S. officials said personnel assigned to the locations needed to be redeployed to help with large numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. Mexican businesses warned the closures were hampering trade.
López Obrador spoke by telephone with Biden on Thursday and agreed that additional border enforcement was needed so the crossings can be reopened, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said Biden asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Momeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall to travel to Mexico for talks with López Obrador and his team.
A U.S. official said the trip would likely happen the Wednesday after Christmas.
“Their visit will really be about getting at the migratory flows and talking to President López Obrador and his team about what more we can do together,” Kirby said at a White House briefing.
Mexican companies are so eager for the border points to reopen that the leader of the Industrial Chamber of Commerce wrote on his social media accounts late Wednesday that a deal had been brokered to get them reopened. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson quickly denied that, saying they remained closed.
The Mexican Employers’ Association described the closure of railroad crossings into Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, as a “failure of migration policy.” The organization said the situation was causing losses of $100 million per day in delayed shipments.
Mexico receives much of the corn and soy products it needs to feed livestock on trains from the United States. Auto parts and automobiles also frequently are shipped by rail in Mexico.
“We energetically but respectfully call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to address the migration crisis which is affecting the flow of goods, given that this measure only damages the economies of both nations,” the association wrote in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Sunday the decision was made “in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody.”
But is also appeared the U.S. government wants Mexico to crack down on migrants riding rail cars to the U.S. border.
Elsewhere, the Lukeville, Arizona, border crossing is closed, as is a pedestrian entry in San Diego, while more officials are assigned to the entry points. Illegal crossings at the U.S. southwestern border topped 10,000 on some days this month, an unusually high number.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
veryGood! (78548)
Related
- Worst. Tariffs. Ever. (update)
- What happened when England’s soccer great Gascoigne met Prince William in a shop? A cheeky kiss
- North Carolina board reasserts funding control over charter schools after losing other powers
- Daughter of long-imprisoned activist in Bahrain to return to island in bid to push for his release
- 'September 5' depicts shocking day when terrorism arrived at the Olympics
- Oregon man sentenced to death for 1988 murder is free after conviction reversed: A lot of years for something I didn't do
- Peloton instantly kills man by severing artery, lawsuit claims
- Russian missile strike kills 17 at Ukraine market as Blinken visits to show support, offer more U.S. help
- North Dakota regulators consider underground carbon dioxide storage permits for Midwest pipeline
- 'Merry Christmas': Man wins $500k from scratch-off game, immediately starts handing out $100 bills
Ranking
- East Coast storm makes a mess at ski resorts as strong winds cause power outages
- What happened when England’s soccer great Gascoigne met Prince William in a shop? A cheeky kiss
- Rents are falling more slowly in U.S. suburbs than in cities. Here's why.
- Judge orders Texas to remove floating barriers aimed at discouraging migrants from entering US
- We can't get excited about 'Kraven the Hunter.' Don't blame superhero fatigue.
- California lawmakers vote to fast-track low-income housing on churches’ lands
- Superbugs catch a ride on air pollution particles. Is that bad news for people?
- 'You could be the hero': Fran Drescher tells NPR how the Hollywood strikes can end
Recommendation
-
Woody Allen and Soon
-
Corporate Nature Restoration Results Murky at Best, Greenwashed at Worst
-
Tokyo’s threatened Jingu Gaien park placed on ‘Heritage Alert’ list by conservancy body
-
Stock market today: Asian shares fall as China reports weaker global demand hit its trade in August
-
Atmospheric river and potential bomb cyclone bring chaotic winter weather to East Coast
-
Special counsel intends to bring indictment against Hunter Biden by month's end
-
As U.S. warns North Korea against giving Russia weapons for Ukraine, what could Kim Jong Un get in return?
-
Homicide suspect escapes from DC hospital, GWU students shelter-in-place for hours