WASHINGTON — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has agreed to spend $1. 5 billion for the “smart” border generation in meetings Tuesday with President Joe Biden, a move the White House says shows cooperation between neighbors is succeeding where the Trump administration promises to block the border and for Mexico to pay for it may not be so.
A user familiar with a number of agreements the two countries reached at their assembly of leaders in Washington said they had also asked for other things such as expanding the number of painting visas issued across the United States and accepting more refugees. They would also continue joint patrols for Mexico and Guatemala to pursue smugglers along their shared border.
The user spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been officially announced. But Biden’s management was thrilled to secure Mexico’s border investment after years of failed attempts through former President Donald Trump.
The agreements came just hours after the meetings began, with Lopez Obrador providing more than an hour of commentary. He tackled everything from Americans heading south for cheaper costs at Mexican gas stations to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policy, while rebuking conservatives and saying the U. S. and Mexico reject the “status quo” at the border.
Lopez Obrador said the two countries “should close ranks to help each other” amid skyrocketing inflation and demanding border situations that were brutally highlighted through 53 migrants who died last month after being abandoned in a truck with a choking trailer on a remote back road in San Antonio.
Although in the afterlife he has hesitated to face U. S. criticism, Lopez Obrador has struck a positive tone with Biden while praising Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden equally conciliatory, saying, “I see, we see Mexico as an equivalent partner” and downplaying differences of opinion on politics with Lopez Obrador, “You and I have a solid and productive relationship and I would say a partnership.
It’s a replacement from last month, when Lopez Obrador turned down Biden’s invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles after unsuccessfully urging the United States to attend with the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, all countries with undemocratic regimes.
The Mexican leader also called Ukraine’s U. S. in its war with Russia “a grave mistake” and criticized the U. S. for acting faster to provide military investment to Ukraine than monetary aid to Central America.
Speaking about the migrant deaths in Texas, which included other people from Mexico and Central America, Biden said “we know we have to deal with those demanding situations together. “migration, especially since more staff can alleviate the shortage of hard work in the U. S. And potentially calm emerging prices.
“This is a proven strategy that drives economic expansion and reduces abnormal migration,” Biden said.
Immigration has been a political flashpoint for Biden, as top Republicans have pointed out that an increasing number of other people from Mexico and Central America are illegally crossing the U. S. southern border. The U. S. is criticizing the administration and top Democrats for not doing more to curb it. Lopez Obrador expressed those criticisms, but said the scenario at the border will require solutions, not just politics.
“The way out is not conservatism. The way out is transformation,” he said. “Transform, not the prestige quo. “
On Tuesday, the moment of the face-to-face meeting between Biden and López Obrador at the White House. First Lady Jill Biden hosted Mexico’s First Lady Beatriz Gutierrez Müller at the Cinco de Mayo birthday party at the White House this spring.
The talks come before Biden departs for Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.
A series of deals announced by Biden’s management promised joint moves to modernize and improve infrastructure along key parts of its 2,000-mile border, police cooperation against fentanyl smuggling and blank energy advertising.
Biden said a “major anti-smuggling operation” of fentanyl traffickers had been underway since April and had led to more than 3,000 arrests.
Despite broad agreement on the attempt to build legal migration, the Biden administration has been less transparent about the extent to which it will urge Mexico to prevent other people from crossing its territory and then illegally entering the United States. This is a requirement clave. de Trump.
Harris, who has been tasked with exploring the fundamental reasons for immigration to Latin America, also hosted Lopez Obrador at a breakfast Tuesday that featured typographic words from others. Addressing the Mexican president in front of the Naval Observatory, which is the vice president’s residence, Harris referred to his beyond visits to his country.
“The time I spent with you in Mexico is so special to me,” he said, noting “the friendship that has been so vital to both nations. “
“She is our friend,” Lopez Obrador said. A woman ready. She is a supporter of equality. So I congratulate the other Americans because they have a top-notch vice president. . . other friends and our two nations. Today we are going to do exactly the same thing.