Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas met with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday to discuss the shared challenge of migration throughout the region and the opportunities to advance economic development. They met in Washington, DC. and were joined by fellow officials from both countries, including Commissioner Chris Magnus of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, and Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma.
Secretary Mayorkas spoke of the United States’ whole-of-government strategy to prepare for the CDC’s announced May 23, 2022 end to the exercise of its Title 42 authority. He emphasized the need for countries throughout the region to manage their respective borders, extend humanitarian relief to qualifying migrants, and repatriate individuals who do not qualify for relief. Secretary Mayorkas, Minister Ebrard, and other officials discussed tactics and strategies for how the United States and Mexico can contribute to these efforts, most effectively attack the human smuggling networks that exploit vulnerable migrants, and prevent individuals from taking the dangerous journeys in the first place.
Secretary Mayorkas and Minister Ebrard spoke of the efforts underway to manage migratory flows northward and each proposed measures to enhance and intensify those efforts. Importantly, Secretary Mayorkas and Minister Ebrard spoke of the potential for economic development, job creation, and foreign investment in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and other countries in the region to drive an enduring solution to the decades-long challenge of migration throughout the hemisphere.
Minister Ebrard spoke of the promise of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s travel to countries in the region beginning on May 5 to learn of their needs and to further explore the potential for economic growth and prosperity that will serve as the foundation for stability in the future. President López Obrador’s meetings with foreign leaders in the region will contribute to the discussions that will occur at the Summit of the Americas that President Biden will host in Los Angeles in early June of this year.
Today’s meeting between Secretary Mayorkas and Minister Ebrard and other officials builds on President Biden’s discussion with President López Obrador on April 29, in which the two Presidents emphasized the need to build stronger tools for addressing the challenges of regional migration.
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