By Jorge Antonio Rocha
MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that his administration will seek to ensure that all non-Mexican migrants deported from the US are directly returned to their countries of origin and not sent back to Mexico after crossing the border unlawfully, which has been the case until now.
During his morning briefing, Lopez Obrador addressed the executive order rolled out by US President Joe Biden that, as of midnight, effectively bars undocumented migrants from receiving asylum.
"We are looking for them to reach an agreement so that if they decide to deport, they can do it directly, and we are helping them to reach that agreement. Why are they coming to Mexico?" he said.
The order goes into effect when there is a seven-day average of 2,500 or more "border encounters" per day. That includes the southwestern land border and southern US coastal borders. There are already well over 2,500 daily “encounters.”
Its restrictions remain in place until two weeks after the number of "border encounters" dips below 1,500.
"We have no problems. We treat migrants very well. We treat everyone very well, but why triangulate? Why not a direct agreement? In any case, we cooperate and help President Biden," said Lopez Obrador.
By expelling asylum seekers outside the southern border, the US has relied on the Mexican government to accept all deported migrants regardless of their country of origin.
Anti-immigration policies such as Title 42 established by then-President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in millions of non-Mexican migrants becoming stranded in Mexico.
From March 2020 to the end of 2022, more than 2 million migrants were expelled to Mexico under Title 42, with more than 1.3 million of these originating from Central America.
Lopez Obrador, who will step down from office in October, is currently overseeing the next phase of US-Mexican relations, where relentless migratory flows will present a constant challenge for the coming administration of newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Lopez Obrador also attributed the stringent executive order to presidential elections in the US which will take place in November as Biden seeks to reduce the flow of US-bound migrants ahead of the polls.
"They are enforcing a policy that does not correspond to the new reality," he said.
US politicians are using “the immigration issue for electoral, political purposes. They take advantage and sometimes even make money by maintaining stances that instead of helping to solve problems complicate them."