Blinken, Mayorkas migrant mission to Mexico yields no action as surge grows

WASHINGTON — The US and Mexico released a joint statement on the ongoing migration crisis Thursday that was heavy on platitudes and support for asylum-seekers, but contained no details of enforcement action to step a record-breaking wave of illegal immigration — and even teased the prospect of amnesty for those already here unlawfully.

Officials claimed a three-hour Mexico City meeting involving Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a success — but Thursday’s statement noted no agreed-upon steps to slow or staunch the deluge of migrants seeking asylum.

“President López Obrador highlighted the commitment of President Biden to pursue regular, orderly, and secure migration. He stressed the need to continue the diplomatic and political engagement with all countries in the region, as well as investing in ambitious development programs throughout the entire hemisphere of the Americas,” the statement said.

“Both delegations underlined the efforts that the Biden administration is pursuing through development assistance and humanitarian aid, as well as advancing new private investments in the region,” it added.

The communique went on to describe existing programs and policy debates without announcing any new initiatives — saying instead that “[t]he two delegations agreed to meet again in Washington in January 2024 to continue to advance our strong partnership on migration management.”

A three-year surge in illegal crossings, which critics attribute to Biden’s policies, reached an all-time high with nearly 270,000 apprehensions in September alone and daily records topping 10,000 this month— as a single-party caravan of roughly 8,000 migrants treks north through Mexico.

“The two countries reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration,” the joint statement said, vowing to reinforce “our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

“Ongoing cooperation also includes enhanced efforts to disrupt human smuggling, trafficking, and criminal networks, and continuing the work to promote legal instead of irregular migration pathways. Also, both delegations agreed on the importance of maintaining and facilitating the vital bilateral trade at our shared border.”

The statement also noted US and Mexico officials “discussed the benefit of regularizing the situation of long-term undocumented Hispanic migrants and DACA recipients, who are a vital part of the US economy and society” — suggesting the Biden administration might take another run at trying to legislate a pathway to citizenship for both adult illegal immigrants and those brought to the US illegally as children.

Critics ripped the administration for the lack of progress.

“At a time when America is experiencing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history, it is unconscionable to hear the Biden Administration’s announcement that Secretaries Mayorkas and Blinken discussed with the President of Mexico amnesty for illegal immigrants,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement.

“The United States must focus on policies that deter — not attract — people attempting to come here illegally, and the smugglers who profit from the catastrophe at our border,” Johnson added. “This development further demonstrates the Administration has no real intention of solving the humanitarian disaster and immediate national security crisis their policies have created. President Biden needs to stop vacationing and take immediate steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into our country.”

“Continue its efforts?” Fox News border reporter Bill Melugin wrote on X. “What efforts? Mexico is enabling the chaos at the border by mass issuing humanitarian visas to migrants that allow them to travel through [Mexico] straight to the U.S. border…then they discard the visas on the ground when they cross illegally.”

Biden administration officials and the Mexican president, however, posted upbeat meeting recaps on social media as Republicans ripped the US emissaries for not driving a tougher bargain.

López Obrador posted on X that “important agreements were reached for the benefit of our people and nations” — without giving any details.

Blinken wrote, “As we made clear in Mexico City today, we are committed to partnering with Mexico to address our shared challenges, including managing unprecedented irregular migration in the region, reopening key ports of entry, and combating illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs,”

Mayorkas added: “We had a very productive meeting with President [López Obrador] and members of his Cabinet today in Mexico City. The regional challenge of migration requires regional solutions, and we appreciate Mexico’s commitment to continue its efforts alongside us and with others,”

Richard Grenell, former US ambassador to Germany and acting national intelligence director under former President Donald Trump, questioned the vagueness of the statements.

“What was accomplished? (Hello? DC reporters?),” Grenell tweeted.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) suggested that the talks were solely about election-year optics, writing, “Biden finally feels pressure because of the 2024 election — not because of the tens of thousands of lives ruined by fentanyl, trafficking, & migrant crime.”

Former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas), the first Mexican-born woman in Congress, wrote on X in response to Mayorkas that the surge in illegal crossings was “orchestrated.”

Flores, who is running for Congress again in 2024, also tweeted: “There have already been over 700,000 illegal migrant encounters at the southern border since October. December on pace to set highest month ever recorded. What has to happen for the Biden administration to secure our Border?”

Other Biden administration officials, meanwhile, described the meeting in Mexico City as a success, with a National Security Council spokesperson saying Blinken and Mayorkas had enjoyed a “productive trip.”

“President López Obrador has taken significant new enforcement actions yet we have a lot more work to do together,” the rep added. “President Biden’s Cabinet will meet again with Mexican leaders in DC in January to assess progress and decide what more can be done. We continue to address the root causes and build on legal pathways that incentivize orderly migration and enforcement of our laws.”

The NSC also did not specify any new enforcement actions taken by Mexico, but may have been referring to the Obrador government saying last week that it had flown a planeload of migrants from northern Mexico to southern Mexico for repatriation to their home countries. It’s unclear how many people were transported.

Polling shows that border policy is an election liability for Biden, who is expected to face a rematch against former President Donald Trump, who routinely boasts that he coerced Mexican leaders into beefing up border security.

A Harvard CAPS-Harris survey released Dec. 18 showed that 38% of registered voters approve of Biden’s handling of immigration — an eight-point drop from 46% in November.

López Obrador previously credited Biden with sparking the border crisis, saying in 2021, “They see [Biden] as the migrant president, and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States.”

On his first day as president, Biden halted construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall. In June 2021, Biden scrapped Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required most asylum applicants who reached the southern border to await decisions on their cases south of the Rio Grande.

Nearly 2.5 million people were apprehended after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “gotaways” who eluded authorities. There were nearly 2.4 million arrests in fiscal 2022, following a record-breaking 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.

Many people who illegally cross the border are allowed into the US to await court rulings on their claims of persecution. After an initial interval, asylum seekers are entitled to work permits as their claims move through a badly backlogged system of review.

The Biden-era illegal immigration figures are much higher than prior annual totals of illegal border crossings.

For example, in President Barack Obama’s final full year in office in fiscal 2016, there were 408,870 people arrested for illegally crossing the border. Obama outraged immigration activists by regularly turning away people who crossed illegally — earning him the nickname “deporter-in-chief.”