VIDEO. US migration crisis: intense political debate less than a year before the presidential election

Secretary of State Antony Blinken rushed to Mexico to meet with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other senior Mexican officials in hopes of defusing a crisis over a new surge of migrants at the border that is the subject of heated political debate in the United States. “We will work together with Guatemala, with the countries of South America and Central America,” Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said after the meeting, reiterating that Mexico wants to attack the “structural causes” of migration.

The summit took place as a caravan of approximately 8,000 migrants walked from Mexico to the United States border. “Nobody is going to stop migration. No one can stop the fact that people are looking for better living conditions with all the money in the world,” explains Luis García Villagran, the organizer of the march. In recent weeks, about 10,000 people a day have attempted to cross the U.S. southern border illegally, nearly double the number recorded before the pandemic.

This influx is the subject of intense political debate. The opposition accuses President Joe Biden of laxity and puts pressure on the White House. That’s why Republican elected officials in Congress are demanding an immigration deal with Joe Biden’s government in exchange for their support for a new Ukraine aid package. Less than a year before the next presidential election, Joe Biden is backing down on some issues. His administration, for example, will resume in the coming days direct air expulsions to Venezuela, suspended for years due to the deeply deteriorating security situation in that country. The president also said on Oct. 6 that he is legally obligated to continue building a wall with Mexico, a signature measure of his predecessor Donald Trump.