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Mexico, US agree to cooperate on border amid migrant surge

December 28, 2023

Washington closed a number of border crossings after authorities registered a record number of irregular arrivals. Mexico's president says the two countries have now agreed to keep crossings open.

https://p.dw.com/p/4ag5t
People try to cross border between US and Mexico
Mexican and US authorities say they plan to work together to curb irregular migration across their shared borderImage: Christian Torres/Anadolu/picture alliance

Mexico and the United States have agreed to strengthen efforts to regulate migration, officials said on Thursday.

The two countries' governments issued a joint statement after Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador, received top US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Security of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Blinken's visit came as the Republican Party, which holds a majority of seats in the lower house of Congress, demanded US President Joe Biden crack down on irregular migrants in return for approval for a Ukraine aid package.

Obrador says US agrees to keep crossings open

Mexico's president told reporters that the US had agreed to keep border crossings open.

"There's more and more movement on the border, on the bridges, and that's why we must be careful so that the crossings are not closed. That agreement was reached," Lopez Obrador said.

"The crossings for the railway and border bridges are already being opened to normalize the situation," he said.

He said the two countries had agreed to hold regular meetings to address the migration question.

As migrants head north, US faces political challenge

Earlier this month, US authorities closed two rail bridge crossings on the border between Mexico and the southwestern state of Texas for several days in an attempt to curb irregular arrivals.

Legal crossings have also been suspended at several vehicle and pedestrian entry points in Texas, as well as in Arizona and California.

US border police have reported around 10,000 crossings by migrants per day over the past several weeks. Many of the migrants are fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, Haiti and Venezuela.

Mexico clears border camp

Also on Thursday, Mexican officials used heavy machinery to clear out tents at an informal camp for migrants in the city of Matamoros.

The settlement lies in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, straight across the border from the town of Brownsville in Texas.

The camp was set up in late 2022 and once held as many as 1,500 people.

Migration official Seguismundo Doguin told the Associated Press that only empty tents were being cleared out, while a Honduran man interviewed by the same agency said that authorities were forcing migrants to leave.

sdi/lo (AFP, Reuters, AP)