President Joe Biden sent a delegation headed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Mexico, but a breakthrough in ending the southern border crisis remains elusive.
The group met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other Mexican officials in Mexico City on Wednesday, and a joint communique published Thursday by the United States and Mexico reaffirmed their shared "existing commitments on fostering an orderly, human, and regular migration."
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Mayorkas and Blinken were joined by White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, and National Security Council Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration Katie Tobin, and the U.S. delegation agreed to host their Mexican counterparts in Washington next month.
Still, Thursday's statement failed to outline specific agreements or policy shifts that could slow the recent surge in illegal migration overwhelming law enforcement U.S. border officials.
"The two countries reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration. This includes reinforcing our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans," the joint communique reads.
It continued: "Ongoing cooperation also includes enhanced efforts to disrupt human smuggling, trafficking, and criminal networks, and continuing the work to promote legal instead of irregular migration pathways. Also, both delegations agreed on the importance of maintaining and facilitating the vital bilateral trade at our shared border."
Furthermore, the joint statement announced that "delegations also discussed the benefit of regularizing the situation of long-term undocumented Hispanic migrants and DACA recipients, who are a vital part of the U.S. economy and society."
The president has long promised a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and illegal immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for a set period of time. However, Biden has come under fire from immigration activists in recent weeks, as the administration has reportedly backed off a pathway to citizenship as part of broader immigration negotiations with Congressional Republicans while pursuing another security aid package for Ukraine.
A pathway to citizenship could also provide Mexico with a potential financial windfall. The Mexican economy reportedly received nearly $56 billion in remittances from migrants living in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Lopez Obrador and Biden spoke by phone before Christmas regarding migration, and Biden agreed to reopen border rail crossings to facilitate trade between the two countries. The U.S. had previously closed off border crossings to trains coinciding with a surge in migrants abusing the rail to enter the country illegally. In exchange, Lopez Obrador agreed to increase enforcement of its policies at the Mexico-Guatemala border to deter migrants traveling to the U.S.
Illegal border crossings have skyrocketed during Biden's time in office, with roughly 8 million border encounters coming over the past three years, and the issue will likely play a critical part in determining the 2024 presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump, Biden's likely general election opponent, has ramped up his immigration-focused criticisms of the president in recent weeks despite failing to finish the construction of a wall along the southern border during his time in office.
Democratic operatives familiar with Biden's campaign strategy told the Washington Examiner that addressing immigration is a political "tightrope" for the president.
"Despite President Biden's efforts to reform the immigration system in a human way, which let's not forget Republicans have resisted at every turn, it's clear that our policies aren't currently working, and again, this is a problem that's been years in the making, not some overnight change." one such strategist explained. "Still, the president risks alienating progressive voters and immigration activists if he leans too hard into policy changes proposed by Republicans."
On the other hand, a second Democratic operative argued that tackling the issue head-on while still expressing compassion and empathy for migrants Biden has exuded dating back to the 2020 campaign trail could boost his numbers with voters in the Southwest states, especially independents.
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Unfortunately for Biden, it does not appear that immigration will ease soon, no matter what policy changes are implemented in the U.S. or Mexico.
"In 2024, challenges of mass displacement globally and in the Western Hemisphere will continue," Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst for The Migration Policy Institute's U.S. immigration policy program, told the Washington Examiner. "Without congressional action to increase lawful pathways and adequately resource the immigration system, processing will not keep up with arrivals and asylum applications. Therefore, it will be important for officials to continue to streamline and modernize immigration processes to the extent possible through executive action."