As migrants begin their trek from Central America toward the United States, top Biden administration officials are meeting with Mexican leaders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Mexico City along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House homeland security advisor Liz Shewood-Randall.
Participants at this meeting are discussing strategies to address the migrant crisis and reopen border crossings, while Cuba and Venezuela, two key sources of migrants, are being taken into consideration as potential senders.
Rail & Bridge Crossings
The United States and Mexico recently reached an agreement to ramp up efforts against smuggling, trafficking and human trafficking while creating legal “pathways” for migrants. Both nations also reaffirmed their mutually-beneficial bilateral trade relationship.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had closed two rail crossings to shift staffing in response to surging migrant numbers, impacting trains from Union Pacific Corp and BNSF Railway Co which utilize international railroad crossing bridges located in Eagle Pass and Ciudad Juarez in Texas.
Railway and agriculture firms have voiced concern over the economic repercussions of closures on export trade, with railroads and agriculture also raising issues regarding any adverse effect. According to an Atlantic Council report, Mexican border states would gain from reduced wait times at crossings; both the US and Mexico have collaborated extensively in an effort to manage irregular migration, yet record levels continue to threaten both governments.
Asylum
Migrants crossing the US-Mexico border must navigate an arduous legal process to file asylum claims while also receiving organized humanitarian reception services. This requires information, fast processing and safe reception – which require adequate funding and commitment from governments and non-profits on both sides.
However, the Trump administration’s migration policies have undermined these efforts. These include restricting who can claim asylum and taking steps against domestic and gang violence victims as well as withdrawing family reunification programs.
Congressional leaders are working towards reaching an agreement to increase immigration enforcement and border security funding, including creating “safe third country” agreements which could send migrants home. Talks also focused on deferred action beneficiaries of the US Daca program who have become targets of reform efforts in Congress. Top officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall will travel to Mexico later this week in order to continue negotiations in person.
Human Trafficking
As in the US, Mexico lacks resources to deal with an influx of migrants. Yet despite erecting miles of fencing and building police and national guardsmen along its Rio Grande shoreline as well as buoys in its river basin to repel migrants’ attempts at crossing into Eagle Pass in search of asylum, according to Glady Canas of Matamoros-based nonprofit Ayudandoles a Triunfar (Helping Them Win).
Human traffickers exploit an increasing number of individuals – children and those with disabilities included – for sexual exploitation or labor services. Human traffickers may be strangers, acquaintances or family members but usually take advantage of those in vulnerable circumstances like trauma and addiction survivors.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met directly with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for “direct talks” regarding this matter. All three officials agreed to keep open several border crossings that had temporarily closed due to high numbers of migrants crossing.
US-Mexico Border Security
The White House is pressuring Mexico to do more to stop caravans of migrants from reaching US borders, seeking an agreement that addresses rising unauthorized immigration that threatens an election year political crisis. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at Mexico’s National Palace; sherwood-Randall also attended.
United States officials have closed key Texas rail crossings and restricted operations or suspended them altogether in other border cities to reassign personnel to process migrants more efficiently, and have pressured Mexico to do more to prevent migrants from jumping freight trains, including in Matamoros where officials used bulldozers to clear out an overcrowded migrant camp this week. But such measures have failed to stem the tide of migration while detention space and repatriation flights remain scarce within their borders.