Mexico Concerned About Biden's Immigration Policies

Mexico’s government is concerned that the Biden administration’s asylum policies are fueling new waves of irregular migration and creating business for organized crime, according to a report by Reuters, citing officials and internal assessments.

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Detentions have increased at the U.S. border since Biden took office last January. Mexico has urged Washington to help stem the flow by providing development aid to Central America, from where most migrants come, driven by a humanitarian crisis.

Since President Joe Biden took power with promises to undo the hardline approach of his predecessor Donald Trump, Mexico has been expecting relief from migration burdens imposed by Trump and braced for a new influx of people.

“They see him as the migrant president, and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said of Biden after a virtual meeting with his US counterpart on March 1.

Some of the measures Mexico views as encouraging migration are the improved support for victims of gangs and violence, streamlining of the legalization process, and suspension of Trump-era accords that deported people to Central America.

Recent Mexican policies are also encouraging migration, according to one assessment. There is a lure in measures such as offering COVID-19 vaccines to migrants and better protections for undocumented children.

One Mexican official familiar with migration issues, speaking on condition of anonymity, said organized crime began changing its modus operandi “from the day Biden took office” and now exhibited “unprecedented” levels of sophistication. New tactics include:

Briefing clients on the latest immigration rules.

Using technology to avoid authorities.

Disguising smuggling operations as travel agencies, according to internal assessments.

“Migrants have become a commodity,” the official said, arguing they were now as valuable as drugs for the gangs. “But if a packet of drugs is lost in the sea, it’s gone. If migrants are lost, it’s human beings we’re talking about.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Tuesday said that overwhelming the US-Mexico borders with migrants, including unaccompanied children, is part of the cartels’ strategy, which would allow them to smuggle even more people into the US.

According to Cesar Peniche, attorney general in Chihuahua, the state in Mexico with the largest stretch of the border with the U.S., higher concentrations of migrants in border areas have encouraged gangs to recruit some as drug mules and kidnap others for money.

At the same time, Mexico has also praised Biden for offering a pathway to citizenship to millions of U.S. residents of Mexican origin and rolling back Trump-era policies that sent U.S. asylum seekers back into Mexico to await their court hearings.