On Tuesday, left-wing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed Joe Biden and his administration for the immigration crisis which continues to unfurl at the border between the United States and Mexico.
“Expectations were created that with the Government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so,” Obrador said during a press conference.
AMLO: "Expectations were created that with the Government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so" pic.twitter.com/TNrZQamuWK
— José Díaz-Briseño (@diazbriseno) March 23, 2021
“President Joe Biden’s press secretary told reporters Monday that the U.S. had dispatched envoys to Mexico and Guatemala in order to find a solution for how to reduce the number of migrants showing up at the southern border. But Mexico’s president appeared to side with Biden’s conservative critics, who say his departure from former President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies has helped facilitate the new surge,” reported Newsweek.
The outlet also reported that Obrador argued that Biden had worsened the border crisis by “allowing smugglers and traffickers to convince locals that the often dangerous route has been made easier to cross.”
“During his Tuesday press conference, Obrador went on to say that he stressed Mexican sovereignty and wants to work in a ‘coordinated manner’ with U.S. officials in order to help curb the flow of migrants showing up at the border between the two countries,” the report added.
Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas blamed former President Donald Trump for the border crisis, “arguing that the previous administration’s disruptions to the immigration system is the reason why holding facilities are being overwhelmed by an influx of unaccompanied minors.”
Meanwhile, Trump has blamed Biden for the border crisis. “In an interview with Fox News Channel’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump argued that his working relationship with Mexico and the partially constructed border wall had acted as deterrents for migrants while he was in office,” The Hill reported.
“We did a lot of things, and all of that is now eroded,” Trump said. “Today, they’re coming in from all foreign countries. … They’re dropping them off, and they’re coming into our country, and it’s a disgrace. They’re going to destroy our country if they don’t do something about it.”
The open criticism of the Biden administration by Obrador comes during a time when “Democrat President Joe Biden’s border crisis is rapidly spiraling out of control as new reporting on Tuesday evening indicated that the number of unaccompanied children being held in detention facilities is more than 300 percent higher than previously known,” with the Biden administration reportedly looking to start a vaccine distribution initiative to help bolster negotiations with Mexico.
“The announcement of the vaccine distribution came at a critical time in negotiations with Mexico,” The New York Times reported. “President Biden has moved quickly to dismantle some of former President Trump’s signature immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, stopping the swift expulsion of children at the border and proposing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States.”
“But he is clinging to a central element of Mr. Trump’s agenda: relying on Mexico to restrain a wave of people making their way to the United States,” the Times added.