Biden, Visiting Mexico, Will Highlight Rising Fentanyl Deaths And Record Migrant Crossings
When in Mexico, Biden will draw attention to the record migrant crossings and soaring fentanyl deaths.
All eyes will be on President Joe Biden this week when he meets with the leaders of Mexico and Canada for the North American Leaders' Summit as the United States deals with record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border and American lives lost to fentanyl overdoses.
Biden's meeting with Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador comes the day after the president visited the border in El Paso, Texas, where a large number of migrants are homeless and roaming the streets while local authorities are struggling to deal with a growing crisis.
House Republicans, who have been waiting two years to criticise Biden's immigration policy, will be keeping a tight eye on Biden throughout this time. They intend to bring Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Capitol Hill to respond to the new majority's inquiries.
The three leaders' summit takes place as the United States works to mend fences.
In particular, López Obrador's absence from the Summit of the Americas last year and his persistent flirtation with Russia as Putin's war in Ukraine approaches the one-year mark have strained Biden's relationship with Mexico during the last year.
This will be an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate the amount of effort that has gone into mending the relationship between the two nations, according to Roberta Jacobson, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico who served as Biden's coordinator for the southwest border on the National Security Council early in the administration.
Ovidio Guzman, El Chapo's son, was arrested, which has caused chaos in Mexico ahead of Biden's visit.
With all of its flaws, this partnership is actually doing better than many people realise, according to Jacobson. The United States is quite interested in many of the issues that the two countries are addressing.
However, the stakes for the president continue to be high because to issues like migration, fentanyl, threats to democracy, and climate change—especially since that former climate leader López Obrador has started buying coal.
Immigration
Immigration will be a major topic of discussion during Biden and López Obrador's discussions because the U.S.-Mexico border is now experiencing record numbers of migrants, many of whom are from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba.
The two leaders are likely to continue discussing additional measures Mexico can take to deter migrants from travelling to the U.S.-Mexico border, despite the fact that the country had previously sent national guard troops to its southern border to assist in processing migrants arriving from Guatemala.
Mexico's present policy, according to Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, has not stopped the migrant influx.
Customs and Border Protection statistics shows that in November 2022, agents at the southwest border had 233,740 interactions with migrants.
The figures do not support the Biden administration's belief that Mexico was cooperating in any way, according to Payan. Therefore, it is obvious that they will need to discuss that, as well as whether or not Mexico is serious about immigration.
Biden unveiled a new parole programme for people from Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba who are attempting to seek asylum before to the meeting in Mexico City.
Biden announced that Mexico will take in 30,000 Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Cubans each month, something the government had not been doing in response to spikes in those populations at the border.
Cost of immigration to the United States: The cost of immigration to the United States may increase. What you should know is as follows.
The strategy shows Mexico's readiness to cooperate with the US in resolving immigration challenges.
According to Shannon O'Neil, Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow, the leaders could likely talk about the capacity of the asylum systems in each nation as well as how to better process people to help them find their way forward in the asylum process for either country.
Mexico also serves as a destination for those seeking refuge, expanding its role in immigration, according to Jacobson.
Mexico is now a destination country as well as a sending or transit country, according to Jacobson. "In some ways, I believe the three countries are more alike than ever when it comes to migration."
stopping the fentanyl flow
The White House has said that dealing with the lethal opioid will be among the summit's main goals due to the widespread concerns in the United States about unintentional overdoses brought on by fentanyl.
It is deadly. Biden described the medicine as "a flat killer" on Thursday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71,000 Americans died in 2021 from fentanyl- and other synthetic opioid-related overdoses.
Former Mexican ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhán claimed that the arrest of drug dealer Ovidio Guzmán, who is the son of notorious Sinaloa drug lord "El Chapo," showed that Mexico was ready to discuss stopping the flow of fentanyl from Mexico to the United States.
The Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan was rocked by a rash of violence when Guzmán was taken into custody.
According to Sarukhán, "I believe that Biden will undoubtedly want to make sure that Lopez Obrador's paradigm for public security does not permit organised crime to continue to expand and proliferate, as has been the situation over the previous three years."
Democracy
Next year will see presidential elections in both the US and Mexico. And it's likely that the two nations will discuss the state of democracy.
In December, Mexico passed a measure referred to as "electoral reform" that will reduce the security of elections there. Months after Biden praised democracy at the Summit of the Americas last summer, the law was passed.
The subject might be discussed given that both nations will hold elections in the upcoming year, according to Mara Fernanda Bozmoski, deputy director of programmes at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council.
Energy and commerce
The issue may cause friction between the three leaders as the US strives to advance the manufacturing of electric vehicles and sustainable energy.
Mexico has been regressing on its green energy targets under López Obrador, increasing its reliance on coal and oil. According to Earl Anthony Wayne, a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Biden and Trudeau are likely to discuss Mexico's future plans to boost renewable energy.
In addition, Canada and the United States will have to determine whether to appeal the USMCA's preference for its state-owned energy suppliers to a dispute tribunal for resolution. A free trade agreement called the USMCA was approved by the Trump administration.
Biden intends to travel to the border in El Paso and believes Mexico should contribute to border security.
They have been actively negotiating with the Mexicans, according to Wayne, to see if they can come up with a solution. "And the U.S. will have to decide whether there is a solution that is feasible."
The three nations may also disagree on how autos and other vehicles are handled under the USMCA.
In terms of how vehicles are handled, Mexico and Canada have alleged that the United States is not abiding with the USMCA.
The two nations demanded the formation of a panel to resolve disputes, where they contended that more automobiles need to be eligible for duty-free export.
The question will be whether the United States will accept the judgement if it is unfavourable. stated Wayne. We must resolve all of these concerns as soon as possible because our trading relationship's legitimacy depends on it.
