Harris meets Mexican President with goal of lowering migration from Central America

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday after the mid-term elections in the country eroded his power base in Congress, and officials from both countries will sign an agreement to work together in efforts to reduce migration from Central Asia America.

Lopez Obrador’s left-wing party, the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) in the lower house of Congress, weakened, but the party dominated state votes. Continue reading

A Mexican government official said the timing for Harris’s visit was not ideal. On condition of anonymity, the official said the US had pushed for the visit.

When asked whether the election results would change the United States’ strategy in Mexico, Ricardo Zuniga, the Biden administration’s special envoy to the Northern Triangle countries, said the relationship does not depend on who is in power or who is in domestic affairs . “It really doesn’t affect our plans.”

Zuniga also said Harris and Lopez Obrador will witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries calling for development agencies working in Central America to work together to review how they plan to allocate aid.

The agreement aims to support Harris’ efforts to reduce the number of migrants from the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America – Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – to the United States.

Harris’ chief spokeswoman and senior advisor Symone Sanders said late Monday that the vice president’s meeting with Lopez Obrador would tie in with their virtual meeting in May when the two sought to expand the United States-Mexico collaboration to address the root causes of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Sanders said Harris on Tuesday will try to build on issues discussed during the May meeting, such as the two countries’ joint agreement to secure their borders and strengthen human rights protection and economic development in the countries of the north Triangle and in southern Mexico.

They will also discuss migration specifically to the U.S.-Mexico border by stepping up enforcement, Sanders said. The Biden government is overwhelmed by the number of migrant children and families arriving to the US-Mexico border, mainly from Central America, and has asked Mexico for help to slow transit through its territory.

Harris met Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday and said the two leaders had had “robust” talks on fighting corruption to deter migration from Central America. Harris also bluntly warned migrants not to come to the United States. Continue reading

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