Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blames the Biden administration on the current chaos on the Mexican-American border. Obrador states that the Biden administration gave migrants hope that crossing the border would be easier and that migrants would receive better treatment. This hope has caused Central and South American migrants to want to cross the border, thinking that it will be easy to do so. Mexico’s head of state made these comments after the Mexican Defense Secretary announced an increase of nearly 9,000 troops were deployed to the border to help cope with the increase of migrants to the area.
President Lopez Obrador suggested that while Biden was campaigning, he promised better treatment for migrants than what they received during the Trump administration. This caused a massive quest of people moving from Central and South America who thought it would be easy to cross the border, which is not the case. Obrador continued his discourse by stating that no one goes to the US to be a tourist. Most people who go want to get work and have access to better education for their children. When Biden first took over the Trump administration, he spent his time dismantling the harsher Trump policies, but Biden shifted his focus a few months later due to Covid-19 infections and turned his attention to other more pressing matters for the country.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico believes that if both countries would address the basic needs, no one would want to cross the border. Most of the migrants currently on the border are from Central America. Although Biden is more lenient when it comes to families, he wants Mexico to help implement a plan offering low-paying jobs that will deter them from crossing into the USA. On the other hand, because of this massive influx of migrants, the border is experiencing massive waves of crime and violence (although much of this violence is also caused in other parts of Mexico because of poverty, drug cartel movements, etc). As such, Obrador hopes focusing on the migrants will shift people’s attention away from the real cause of the violence and criminal behavior.
Obrador says that if the border economy improves the issues of migration and crime will also reduce. On a positive note, Biden did send over 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which he appreciated publicly. Joe Biden is also under a lot of scrutiny by republicans for his lack of solutions when it comes to migrants. Without the cooperation of the Mexican government, it will be difficult to find a solution and peace on the border with the migration issues. There seems to be no solution in sight.
