NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Mexico will contribute $1.5 billion in infrastructure at the southern border to improve processing and security, Fox News Digital has learned — a commitment that came during a visit to the White House by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Lopez Obrador is visiting Washington, where he met with President Biden in a bilateral meeting. A source familiar with the negotiations said that $1.5 billion was committed by Mexico.
This is part of a bilateral meeting organized later Lopez Obrador jumped There was a disagreement about which countries were invited to the Summit of the Americas, which will be held in June.
During that summit, the United States announced a series of commitments, including hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the refugee and migrant crisis, additional work visas and expanded refugee resettlement.
Mexico has signed on to its commitments — namely expanding its migration programs and launching a new temporary labor program.
President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Washington.
((AP Photo/Susan Walsh))
On Tuesday, President Biden outlined other steps his administration is taking to protect a border hit by extreme border numbers — more than 239,000 encounters in May alone. He highlighted joint efforts with Mexico to crack down on human traffickers and an operation launched in April to stop both migrant smugglers and deadly drugs like fetanyl.
“In us launched a major anti-trafficking operation targeting people smugglers involved in human, drug and arms trafficking since April. “We have deployed 1,300 additional personnel to this effort, conducted 20,000 raids and made more than 3,000 arrests since April,” he said.
Biden also called more action from the region.
BIDEN UNVEILS MIGRANT STATEMENT WITH WESTERN HEMISPHERE LEADERS, DESCRIBES ‘LEGAL SOURCE MIGRATION’
“But as you know, Mr. President, we need every country in the region to join us in tracking down this multi-billion dollar smuggling industry that preys on our most vulnerable, including our fifty-three souls. died in the trailer of the tractor Last month in San Antonio,” he said.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador listens as he meets with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, in Washington.
((AP Photo/Susan Walsh))
It follows the administration’s approach of viewing migration as a regional problem, not just for the United States. This approach was promoted by the Biden administration at the Summit in Los Angeles, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris they emphasized their focus on addressing the “root causes” in the region and secured the signatures of many countries to work together on migration.
there, The White House announced The U.S. has pledged to offer 22,500 H-2B non-agricultural visas to Central America and Haiti and resettle 20,000 refugees from the Americas in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 (a three-fold increase from this year), increasing reunification programs for Cubans. and Haitians, provide an additional $25 million for the migration crisis response program and commit $314 million in funding through the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for humanitarian and development assistance for refugees and vulnerable migrants. hemisphere.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The U.S. also promised to increase resettlement of Haitian migrants and introduce a new “Fair Employment Practices Guide” for temporary migrant workers, to be implemented in partnership with major corporations such as Walmart.
“This is just the beginning,” Biden said. There is still much work to be done to state the obvious. Each country must work together to maintain a humane, orderly immigration process; Investing in border protection, screening and registering migrants entering their countries, and repatriating those who do not have the right to stay.
