WASHINGTON — President Biden spoke Thursday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as the number of daily illegal border crossings breaks all-time records.
The thousands of migrants camped out in border states awaiting processing have forced the Biden administration to close two major rail links between the countries.
The White House did not immediately provide a readout of the discussion, other than to say it occurred.
Lopez Obrador said Thursday morning that Biden requested the call.
The Mexican leader said “I think migration” would be the topic of the conversation.
“Let’s see what he puts to us,” added Lopez Obrador, who is widely known by his initials AMLO.
More than 12,600 people reportedly were processed by US Customs and Border Protection officers Monday, the most ever recorded in a single day.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott reacted to the latest surge by signing a law Monday that would allow state police to arrest people who illegally enter from Mexico — despite prior US Supreme Court decisions finding that immigration policy cannot be set by individual states.
Lopez Obrador has decried the Texas state law as inhumane.
Wintertime typically draws fewer migrants due to freezing temperatures along the southwestern frontier, but this month’s spike in crossings comes after years of mounting increases, which Republicans attribute to Biden’s more welcoming policies for asylum seekers.
Many people who illegally cross the border are allowed into the US to await decisions on their claims of persecution, burdening local government resources in New York City and other popular destinations. After an initial wait period, migrants seeking asylum are entitled to work permits.
The badly backlogged system of check-ins and court dates mean cases can stretch out well into the future.
Nearly 2.5 million people were apprehended after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30. That record-breaking tally followed a record-breaking nearly 2.4 million the year prior, itself following a record-breaking 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.
On his first day in office in January 2021, Biden halted funding to construct former President Donald Trump’s US-Mexico border wall. Biden in June 2021 ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required most asylum seekers who reached the southern border to await US court rulings in Mexico.
The Department of Homeland Security in October said it was necessary to resume wall construction in Texas citing an “acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers… to prevent unlawful entries,” but Biden distanced himself from the move and said he had to spend money appropriated by Congress.