President Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will discuss in Washington this week a long-term strategy to target illegal migration in the region, according to two senior administration officials.
“The historic work that both of these administrations — led by the two presidents — have done stemming from one, the USMCA, which is something that we are going to obviously highlight … but also our historic cooperation on migration, which has decreased,” a senior official told reporters in a call Tuesday evening.
The meeting was expected to focus on trade between the two North American nations, but the White House also plans to bring up a hot topic for Trump ahead of the election: immigration.
“Illegal migration is now down 85% of mostly from Central American countries that would not be possible without the help of President Lopez Obrador with the Migrant Protection plan that we worked together on and the 25,000 National Guardsmen men and women that he has put forward to the northern and southern borders to protect people from coming illegally,” the official said. “Now, based on the relationship between these two presidents and being able to stem the short-term flow of illegal migration and protect people’s lives, we’re now able to now build upon that and have long-term impact with private sector-led growth in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.”
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation pledged $2 billion in investments in private sector growth and job creation, as well as $1 billion each to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, whose citizens made up the largest amounts of migrants encountered at the southern border in fiscal 2019. The Trump administration expects its counterpart will be open to implementing long-term initiatives following its recent success deploying National Guard and federal police last June to arrest illegal migrants passing through Mexico to the United States. Mexico, the country’s top trade partner, took action after Trump threatened tariffs on all imports.
“One of the things that’s an obsession of President Lopez Obrador that he constantly talks about is, ‘OK, now that we’ve cut the short-term, issue of illegal migration then how do we ensure to deal with the root causes of that migration … so that those families can find not only employment opportunities but jobs, access to basic needs, wage growth, and competitiveness in their countries and in their communities in particular,” one official said.
The Mexican government released a preview of the trip that stated both presidents will sign a joint statement, though they did not reveal if it will be symbolic or announcing a new partnership.
Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, told the Washington Examiner that the two leaders have more to celebrate than fight over.
“In a period where most commentators think has been turbulent, there has been a lot of growth in the relationship, at least when it comes to immigration enforcement,” said Ruiz Soto. “The key idea here is, how do you ensure that the cooperation on migration enforcement and migration management in general really is something that can be sustained over the long term, not a response and a reaction from the Mexican government because of the U.S. pressure that it faced last year.”
Ruiz Soto said investing in jobs in South Mexico gives Central Americans reason to stay there rather than migrate to the U.S., as well as opportunities for Mexicans, who are increasingly making up a larger percentage of illegal border crossers since last fall. Irregular migration, including caravans of thousands of people and seasonal upticks of children and families, have happened several times since 2010. The Trump administration has started immediately returning all illegal crossers at the border, including those seeking asylum, citing the public health issue as the basis for the decision.
Lopez Obrador arrived in Washington on Tuesday. His trip marks the first time he has left Mexico since taking office in December 2018. The trip was protested by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose members said it was not appropriate because lawmakers were not in Washington.
The White House will host a dinner after the talks and a briefing with the two leaders Wednesday. Ten Mexican CEOs, 10 top U.S. CEOs, delegations, and Cabinet members will attend the dinner at the White House.
“Usually, the official working visits do not have a dinner component,” said an official. “This visit does because it, in fact, is a special relationship with a special dinner, and we wanted to make sure that President Lopez Obrador felt welcome in his first trip outside Mexico.”
