Biden in Mexico to discuss immigration, drug trafficking at summit
The North American Summit will focus on climate change, drug trafficking, and immigration issues.
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Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau at the last North American Leaders’ Summit in Washington, DC, in November of 2021. (AFP)
The North American summit, dubbed the "three amigos" summit, started off to a politically charged beginning when Biden made his first trip to the US-Mexico border since taking office.
He is scheduled to meet with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) to discuss immigration, drug trafficking, climate change, trade, the economy, and energy issues.
The meeting will take place in Mexico City this week, and will also mark the first visit by a US leader to Mexico in nearly a decade.
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The North American Summit will focus on climate change, drug trafficking, and immigration issues, as Biden has been heavily criticized on immigration issues by both Democrats and Republicans. Last year, US Customs and Border Protection reported a record-breaking number of nearly 2.4 million border encounters.
The "three amigos" will have to discuss more than immigration, though, as an array of other difficult issues will also be on the table, including the heavy flow of fentanyl across the US border which killed more than 100,000 people in 2021 alone.
Hundreds of #migrants, including children, who were denied entry into the #UnitedStates have been left to fend for themselves on the streets in subzero temperatures. pic.twitter.com/CCNG6fmLQR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 4, 2023
Climate change, drug trafficking, and immigration issues will "dominate" the North American Leaders' Summit, said John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesperson.
He added in Friday's press briefing that "economic security, prosperity, democratic stability, and of course, migration management" depends on strong relationships with Canada and Mexico.
"A meeting like this is so that we keep moving forward on economic integration," AMLO said this week.
The United States and Canada allege that AMLO's actions violated a trilateral trade agreement. Any discussion of jobs will almost certainly be overshadowed by their energy dispute with Mexico.
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Just before the visit, Biden announced a major policy change for the US-Mexico border to address dissatisfaction from both Democrats and Republicans regarding his border policy.
With Mexico's permission, the US will begin admitting up to 30,000 migrants per month from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela under a 'parole program', while those who do not comply will be expelled.
Activists see Biden's policy shift as a rejection of his campaign promise to protect asylum seekers, but it may mitigate the Republican backlash he has faced for months.
Yesterday, Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas landed in El Paso, Texas, on Sunday afternoon to tour the US southern border amid scores of migrants illegally entering the US since he assumed office, Sputnik noted.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, and Oscar Leeser, the mayor of El Paso, received Biden and informed him of the critical need to address the ongoing border crisis.
