U.S. officers to go to Mexico for border talks as immigration negotiations with Congress proceed

WASHINGTON — A delegation of prime U.S. officers is predicted to go to Mexico quickly as negotiations over how one can implement immigration guidelines on the two nations’ shared border proceed on Capitol Hill.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers are debating border coverage modifications as half of a bigger dialog over U.S. help for Ukraine and Israel, that are prime overseas coverage priorities for the White House.

The upcoming go to to Mexico comes amid controversy over the closure of two rail crossings in Texas earlier this week. U.S. officers stated the personnel wanted to be redeployed to deal with excessive numbers of migrants illegally crossing the border. Mexican companies warn that the closings are hampering commerce.

President Joe Biden spoke with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday and agreed that extra border enforcement was wanted so the crossings may be reopened, in line with White House nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby.

Kirby stated Biden requested Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House homeland safety adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall to journey to Mexico within the coming days to satisfy with López Obrador and his group to debate additional actions that may be taken to deal with the problem.

A U.S. official, who requested anonymity to debate planning, stated the journey would seemingly happen on Saturday if finalized.

“Their visit will really be about getting at the migratory flows and talking to President López Obrador and his team about what more we can do together,” Kirby stated at a White House briefing.

Mexican corporations are so longing for the border crossings to reopen that the chief of the Industrial Chamber of Commerce wrote on his social media accounts late Wednesday {that a} deal had been brokered to get them reopened. A U.S. Embassy spokesman shortly denied that, saying they remained closed.

The Mexican Employers’ Association described the closure of rail crossings into Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, as a “failure of migration policy.” The group stated the state of affairs was inflicting losses of $100 million per day in delayed shipments.

Mexico receives a lot of the corn and soy merchandise it must feed livestock by rail from the United States. Auto elements and vehicles additionally incessantly are shipped by rail in Mexico.

“We energetically but respectfully call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to address the migration crisis which is affecting the flow of goods, given that this measure only damages the economies of both nations,” the affiliation wrote in an announcement.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated Sunday the choice was made “in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody.”

But can be appeared the U.S. authorities desires Mexico to crack down on migrants driving railcars to the U.S. border.

In the Sunday assertion, the CBP wrote that “after observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations moving migrants through Mexico via freight trains, CBP is taking additional actions to surge personnel and address this concerning development, including in partnership with Mexican authorities.”

Migrants usually journey freight trains by means of Mexico, hopping off simply earlier than getting into the U.S.

Elsewhere, the Lukeville, Arizona, border crossing is closed, as is a pedestrian entry in San Diego, in order that extra officers may be assigned to the migrant inflow. Illegal crossings on the U.S. southwestern border topped 10,000 some days in December, an abnormally excessive stage.

___

Stevenson reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.