President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently discussed collaborating on migration policies. This comes as President Biden weighs potential executive actions to address the influx of migrants at the southern U.S. border.
According to López Obrador, the call took place on Sunday at Biden’s request, as he mentioned in his daily news conference in Mexico City on Monday.
In a joint statement, Biden and López Obrador highlighted their shared efforts to manage migration effectively and enhance operational efficiency along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We have regular conversations,” López Obrador stated. “I reach out to him, he reaches out to me, and we talk.”
The statement also noted that both leaders have instructed their national security teams to swiftly implement specific measures aimed at reducing unauthorized border crossings while safeguarding human rights.
Regarding these new measures, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and officials from the National Security Council declined to provide further details.
López Obrador praised the progress made in curbing unauthorized migration, particularly efforts to dissuade migrants from using illegal means to cross borders.
He also commended a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January, which allowed Border Patrol agents to resume removing razor wire along the Texas border, originally installed to deter migration.
Since Congress failed to pass border legislation earlier this year, the White House has left open the possibility of President Biden using executive orders on asylum policies to manage the flow of migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border.
If such actions are taken, they would likely draw on the president’s authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, granting broad powers to restrict entry for certain immigrants deemed contrary to national interests.