MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Mexico鈥檚 top diplomat, Alicia B谩rcena, said Friday that President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador wants to travel to Washington D.C. in early November to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden about immigration, development aid and drug trafficking.
The statement comes after a forced the closure of some U.S.-Mexico border crossings and led Mexico鈥檚 largest railway company to because so many migrants were hopping aboard freight cars. Most appear to be Venezuelans, and many said they had crossed through the jungle-clad Darien Gap that connects Colombia and Panama.
B谩rcena told a news conference in New York that migrant shelters in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, are 95% full and that the Mexican government is 鈥渧ery worried鈥 about the border closures and the migrant surge, especially given Mexico鈥檚 rocky relationship with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
In the past, Abbott has tightened border truck inspections and strung a series of floating barriers in the Rio Grande to try to deter migrants.
B谩rcena suggested that more should be done to stem the flow of migrants through the Darien Gap, and that lifting U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela 鈥渃ould also help us return some people to their home countries.鈥
There were signs that some in Mexico, too, were getting overwhelmed by the surge in migrants.
B谩rcena said about 140,000 migrants were waiting to register for transit or asylum papers in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, adding 鈥渨e need reinforcements, because it is impossible to process 140,000 people.鈥
And early Friday, a few dozen residents who live near an overcrowded migrant shelter in Mexico City briefly blocked traffic on one of the city's main expressways, saying migrants living in the streets outside the shelter were causing problems.
Mexico is also where most of the synthetic opioid fentanyl is produced for the U.S. market, using precursor chemicals smuggled in from China.
B谩rcena's comments came just a day after L贸pez Obrador announced he in November in San Francisco because his country 鈥渉as no relations鈥 with Peru.
L贸pez Obrador previously claimed Peru鈥檚 current government was installed by a coup and that he still considers ousted president Pedro Castillo to be the country鈥檚 legitimate leader.
Both countries recalled their ambassadors following those comments.
It would not be the first time that L贸pez Obrador has skipped international meetings in the United States because of who else was or wasn鈥檛 invited. Last year, he skipped the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles because Nicaragua and Venezuela were not invited.
