US top advisers on border and immigration issues to hold talks in Mexico on migration

Mexico on Monday, March 22 announced that several top advisers of the United States on border and immigration issues will be meeting the Mexican officials on Tuesday. They will be discussing migration and development in Central America. The talks come after a surge in the number of migrants at the US border. According to reports by AP, the officials will include Roberta Jacobson, the White House’s lead adviser on the border, and Juan González, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere.

Mexico’s director for North American affairs, Roberto Velasco said that the talks will focus on the two countries “joint efforts for secure, safe and regulated migration”. They will be also discussing plans to provide economic development in southern Mexico and Central America. This will be done so that the people won’t have to migrate. 

As per White House, Gonzalez will go on to Guatemala, to “meet with Guatemalan government officials, as well as representatives from civil society and non-government organizations to address root causes of migration in the region and build a more hopeful future in the region”. The officials also include Ricardo Zúñiga, who has been named as Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. As per the State Department, Zúñiga will, “coordinate closely with the National Security Council staff on the administration’s comprehensive efforts to stem irregular migration to the United States and implement President Biden’s multi-year, $4 billion to address root causes of migration in Central America”.

Biggest surge of migrants in the US 

The US is facing the biggest surge of migrants at its southwestern border in two decades, the Department of Homeland Security warned recently. While the border officials are blatantly turning away adults, children as young as six years old are being allowed to stay back on the American land, the department added. This has indirectly fuelled the influx of young children from Mexico, who reportedly travel hundreds of kilometres without adult supervision to live their ‘American dream'. 

Stating the reason behind the spike in migration, the department stressed that poverty and violence combined with the COVID-19 pandemic have propelled people to leave their homes and try to make a better future in the US.  Every year, thousands of people from Mexico try to enter the US. According to official records, the US border patrol officials recorded over 78,000 migrants attempting to cross the country’s southern border in January. In the same month, officials in Texas released hundreds of thousands of Mexicans, who were detained illegally crossing the border, amid fears of overcrowding the Border Patrol facilities amidst a pandemic.

(Image Credits: AP)