The United States, Mexico and Guatemala on Wednesday pledged to deepen their cooperation to address illegal migration after a round of ministerial level talks in Washington, DC, as migration and border issues continue to loom large over US domestic politics.
The three nations are expected to announce the creation of an “operational cell to jointly tackle migration issues,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters Tuesday. Guatemala is also expected be announced as the next host for the Los Angeles Declaration ministerial in April, the official said.
Wednesday ministerial – the latest round of talks on migration – comes a day before both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are slated to visit the southern border as the issue remains in sharp focus for the 2024 election. Trump has sought to seize the Biden administration’s handling of the border as a cornerstone of his re-election campaign. Biden has repeatedly hit congressional Republicans for failing to pass a bipartisan national security and border deal earlier this year.
Wednesday’s meeting also comes as Biden is considering executive action to restrict migrants’ ability to seek asylum at the US southern border if they crossed illegally.
The US has relied on partners to the south to drive down crossings at the US-Mexico border and recently attributed a dramatic decline in crossings to Mexico’s increased enforcement. The US and Mexico have held an additional two rounds of talks since December.
Wednesday’s meeting was expected to focus on four key areas: working together on the root causes of illegal migration, “opportunities to deepen our trilateral efforts to expand legal pathways” for migration, “joint commitments to strengthen the management of irregular migration flows,” and “coordination on future ministerial level meetings,” the official said.
Asked about assessments that the strategy to address root causes has largely failed, a second senior administration official countered that “this is certainly a long-term effort that requires lots of work from throughout the US government, throughout international organizations, foundations, and otherwise.”
“We believe that has been successful,” they said.
A third senior administration official noted that “extra-hemispheric migration” – meaning people who travel to South America from other parts of the world for the purpose of migration – is “of deep concern for many governments in the region, not just us.”
“We have been working with governments all over the hemisphere to address the routes that migrants from outside of the western hemisphere are taking to travel, you know, into the hemisphere and ultimately up to our border, and that includes Chinese nationals,” the official said.
CNN reported in January on Chinese nationals migrating to the US from Mexico.
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