Mexico City [Mexico], June 11: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that new immigration measures recently adopted by the United States had not caused an increase in the migration flow along the Mexico-U.S. border.
The current situation is very different from that of December when the number of undocumented migrants trying to cross the border caused an immigration crisis, Lopez Obrador told reporters at his daily press conference, adding that there has been no overflow in immigration in five months.
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order severely limiting the number of people who can cross the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum in the United States.
However, Lopez Obrador acknowledged on Monday that Mexico faces pressure from the growing number of migrants stranded along its northern border, as they come from countries with which the United States has poor relations and no deportation agreements. Those countries include Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua and Guatemala, he added.
Lopez Obrador has urged Washington to negotiate deportations of undocumented migrants directly with the countries of origin following Biden's issuance of the executive order last week.
In addition, he noted, Washington has avoided addressing the root causes of northward immigration from Latin America, such as poverty and joblessness, but has instead chosen more hardline strategies to keep migrants out.
"On the issue of immigration, there has only been containment, walls, heavy-handed threats, militarization of borders and stricter laws, but they don't want -- it's complicated for them -- to address the causes," he said.
Source: Xinhua