Presidents Joe Biden and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador talked on Tuesday as an increasing number of Venezuelan migrants arrived at the border between the United States and Mexico.
The Biden administration said last week that up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants would be welcomed at American airports. Meanwhile, Mexico has promised to return Venezuelans who enter the United States illegally by land.
But concurrently, Biden is limiting Venezuelan entry into the United States with the aid of Title 42, a Trump-era regulation that suspends rights to seek asylum under domestic and international law to halt the spread of COVID-19.
Following the chat, Lopez Obrador announced on Twitter that Biden had confirmed his visit to Mexico for a summit of North American leaders, which is also anticipated to include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The meeting’s date has not yet been determined. The three leaders got together in Washington last year, resurrecting a custom that had been suspended during President Donald Trump’s watch.
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In the social media post, Lopez Obrador said, “We had a friendly talk with President Joe Biden concerning immigration, security, and cooperation on development.”
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, said it was “a very intimate and warm talk.”
The Biden administration has put barriers to prevent Venezuelans from crossing the border by swimming or walking.
In addition, any Venezuelan who enters Mexico or Panama illegally is likewise ineligible to accept the invitation to the United States.
The Biden White House’s use of Tittle 42 comes after the Democratic government rejected several of Trump’s immigration-related measures.
The Biden administration even negotiated an agreement to remove Venezuelans under Title 42 if they were from Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador to Mexico, which had previously committed to absorbing them.
While this is happening, attorneys for the Justice Department are still appealing the court ruling that upheld Title 42.
In their view, Title 42 is “the sole safety valve keeping this Administration’s already terrible border control measures from spiraling into an unmitigated disaster.”
This is in opposition to Republican attorneys general from more than 20 states.
In August, Venezuelans overtook Guatemalans and Hondurans to overtake Mexicans as the second-largest nationality stopping at the U.S. border.
Since the country’s economy collapsed in 2014, an estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have emigrated, predominantly to Latin America and the Caribbean nations.
However, after the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. economy has grown quite well, which has made Venezuelan migrants turn northward.
Additionally, it is challenging to return them home due to U.S. regulations and tense ties with the Venezuelan government.