(Mexico City) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Sunday called on the United States and Canada to invest in Central American countries if they are to succeed in controlling the flow of illegal immigrants fleeing poverty.
Mr. Lopez Obrador gave the example of Mexico’s “Sowing Life” program for farmers, which creates 420,000 jobs and requires an investment of approximately 55 million euros annually.
Can’t the US and Canada do the same in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador? asked the Head of State during an intervention in the state of Chiapas (south).
“Yes, we will continue to ban [à l’immigration clandestine]But basic structural solutions must be found,” he said, noting that these Central Americans were “forced to leave their countries” because of poverty.
Mexico has deployed more than 27,000 members of the armed forces to its northern and southern borders to prevent illegal immigration from parts of Central American countries to the United States and Canada.
About a third of the immigrants arrested in the United States in June came from Mexico, followed by Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The number of unaccompanied minors in June increased by 8% compared to May, bringing the total number of minors to 15,253, or more than 500 minors per day. The United States promised that they would be welcomed into the country, rather than being sent back to Mexico.
Immigration flows dropped dramatically during the pandemic and began to recover slightly in 2020, before picking up since Joe Biden came to the White House.
Republicans accuse him of causing “recruitment” by relaxing the immigration policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
However, the United States continues to automatically deport unmarried adults and a significant portion of families, under a rule adopted to counter the spread of COVID-19.
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