US and Mexico will curb illegal immigration, leaders say

Washington DC, USA/Mexico City, Mexico
Reuters

The United States and Mexico plan to crack down on illegal immigration at their shared border, leaders of both countries said Monday, vowing to disrupt irregular border crossings that have reached record levels in recent years.

In a phone call on Sunday, US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said their governments will soon take steps to reduce illegal crossings while addressing the economic and security challenges that drive people to migrate.

Asylum-seeking migrants line up at the border as they wait to be transported by U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, U.S. on April 29, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters/Go Nakamura

“In the short term, the two leaders have instructed their national security teams to work together to immediately implement concrete measures to significantly reduce the number of irregular border crossings while protecting human rights,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

Biden, a Democrat seeking another four-year term in the Nov. 5 election, has tightened his approach to border security in recent months as immigration has become a top concern among voting Americans.

Republicans, including Biden’s opponent, former President Donald Trump, have criticized the president for rolling back restrictive Trump-era border policies and failing to stem higher levels of illegal border crossings.

The White House has considered using Biden’s executive authority to block migrants at the border, Reuters reported, but such a move could spark legal challenges and backlash from some Democrats.

The White House is also discussing ways to grant temporary legal status and work permits to immigrants in the U.S. who are illegally married to U.S. citizens, which could serve as a political counterbalance to restrictions at the border.

Biden supported a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill earlier this year that would give him new powers to turn away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, but Republicans rejected the measure after Trump came out in opposition.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week that the Biden administration still supports the bill, but that “we will always look at our options.”

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Mexico will hold presidential elections on June 2, although immigration is not a top concern among voters, according to polls. Former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, Lopez Obrador’s successor in the left-wing National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), remains the frontrunner to win the election.

Lopez Obrador told reporters on Monday that he had spoken with Biden about keeping the country’s borders open to legal immigration “but not about allowing irregular migration.”

U.S. Border Patrol recorded a monthly record of 250,000 migrants crossing the border illegally in December, but the numbers have since dropped significantly, with 137,000 apprehensions in March.

Lopez Obrador attributed the reduced arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border in part to social programs that Mexico has supported in other Latin American countries where migrants are coming from.

U.S. and Mexican officials have cited increased enforcement by Mexico as a contributing factor to the decline in crossings.