AMLO affirms that Biden promised more visas for Mexico and Central America

The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador affirmed this Thursday that his American counterpart, Joe Biden, promised more temporary work visas for Mexico and Central America after their meeting last Tuesday in Washington.

“We talked about the need to expand the number of temporary work visas for Mexico and Central America. This was accepted. The number of work visas to enter USA”, assured the Mexican president in his morning press conference after returning from the tour.

Following the meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Biden He had asked López Obrador for patience on his immigration requests, and in a joint statement they announced a working group on labor migration, but did not reveal any specific agreement regarding the number of visas.

But the president of Mexico He now asserted that “there is a commitment to increase the number of temporary work visas”, although without specifying how many.

“(That) the migratory flow with temporary work visas be ordered, not only for the countryside, but also for services and industry. There is a reality, there is a lack of labor force in the United States, and it is necessary to produce, it is necessary to grow”, he expressed. Lopez Obrador.

The president reiterated his proposal for a new Bracero Program, like the one from World War II, so that Mexican and Central American workers have visas to go to USA.

In addition, he revived his request that the United States invest in the social programs that Mexico finances in Central America, such as Youth Building the Future and Sembrando Vida, which are already being applied in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala with financing from Mexico.

The Mexican leader also suggested removing tariffs that may exist, simplifying trade regulation within the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), “removing all the tedious procedures” and “uniting more to produce and confront the migratory phenomenon.” .

Lopez Obrador urged to Biden accelerate the management of immigration reform to regulate almost 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, of which about half are Mexicans.

The president argued that this is a “decisive” moment for a new immigration policy in the United States despite the midterm elections in November and the paralysis of the reform in the US Congress.

“It is better to face reality, they do not have a workforce, and regularization is necessary, and the delivery of temporary work visas is necessary,” he said. Lopez Obrador.

The region is experiencing a record migratory flow to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) has detected nearly 1.4 million undocumented immigrants so far in fiscal year 2022, which began last October.