dailymail | Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has spelled out a series of demands from the U.S. ranging from visas to a multi-billion infusion of funds – even as the Biden administration seeks to pressure Mexico to do more on its part to address the migrant crisis.
He wants the U.S. to deploy $20 billion plan to help Mexico and Central American countries dealing with the root causes of migration – while also calling for wholesale changes in U.S.-Cuba policy.
'We are going to help, as we always do,' López Obrador said in a Friday speech 'Mexico is helping reach agreements with other countries, in this case Venezuela,' he said, before pivoting to his wish list.
'We also want something done about the (U.S.) differences with Cuba,' López Obrador said. 'We have already proposed to President Biden that a U.S.-Cuba bilateral dialogue be opened,' he said in remarks at a Friday press conference.
Lopez Obrador also said he wants the U.S. to provide visas to at least 10 million Hispanic migrants who have been living in the U.S. for 10 years or longer.
His long list of demands come even as the Biden administration is asking Mexico to do more, as a surge of migrants continue to flow across the border. It also comes at a time when the Biden administration needs to show progress on the issue while getting hammered by Republican rivals and even some prominent Democratic mayors on the costs and social impacts of the surge.
Border encounters hit another stunning milestone in December with 300,000 apprehensions.
The U.S. is leaning on Mexico to do more to reduce those numbers. Late last month Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Mexico to meet with López Obrador.
In one sign that Mexico has the capacity to have an impact, arrests at the southern border fell to about 2,500 Monday, according to the Associated Press, a drop from 10,000 during a December peak.
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