Kamala Harris meets with AMLO at the National Palace of Mexico

The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, arrived this Tuesday at the National Palace of Mexico to meet with the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with whom she addresses the migration crisis in the region.

Harris arrived at 9.59 local time (14.59 GMT), in the middle of a strong security device, at the presidential headquarters, where she was received by the Mexican president.

Then, López Obrador, who, unlike the US vice president, did not wear a mask, led Harris to the Patio de Honor of the National Palace, adorned with Mexican and American flags, where both witnessed the signing of a memorandum of migratory cooperation between both governments.

“We are going to speak with the vice president and we are very pleased that she visits us. We are going to talk about the immigration issue but taking care of the causes,” López Obrador told the press before starting the private meeting.

The US vice president, in charge of immigration management by the White House, landed in Mexico City on Monday night after a visit to Guatemala and will leave for Washington this Tuesday afternoon.

Upon landing in Mexico, the vice president’s spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, told the press that both countries will sign a memorandum that will address “cooperation between development agencies working in Central America.”

This memorandum will establish the way in which both countries will cooperate in the region with measures aimed at giving opportunities to youth and also to farmers through a reforestation program.

She explained that the meeting between López Obrador and Harris will serve to continue the virtual conversation they held last May, in which they agreed to “expand cooperation between the United States and Mexico to address the causes of migration” in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

During the meeting, both will talk about security on the common border, the economic development of Central America and southern Mexico.

The Mexican labor reform, business development and the fight against human trafficking are also expected to be addressed.

“They will also speak specifically about migration at the US-Mexico border, both by stepping up law enforcement and partnering to address the root causes of it,” Harris’s spokeswoman said.

After meeting with López Obrador, the vice president will travel to a central hotel in the capital, where she will meet with women entrepreneurs and union leaders, to later offer a press conference.

Harris’s three-day tour of Guatemala and Mexico, his first trip abroad since taking office last January, has as its main objective the search for solutions to irregular migration, which is on the rise.

According to the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 178,120 illegal immigrants were detained last April at the border with Mexico, the highest number for that month since 2000.

During a press conference in Guatemala, Harris sent a message to undocumented migrants, asking them: “do not come” to the United States.

Before Harris’s visit to Mexico, a strong security operation was deployed in the vicinity of the National Palace as part of the preparations and the strategy to protect the vice president.