The Biden administration is
closing out 2023 in much the
same way it began, with
headlines about a migrant crisis
on the U.S. Southern border.
Border patrol agents
encountering a record number of
people entering the country.
A caravan heading toward the
border.
And American cities struggling
to keep up with asylum seekers.
As Stephanie sy reports, its
with that backdrop that
president Biden dispatched three
top advisers to Mexico in search
of solutions.
Stephanie: Secretary of state
Antony blinken arrived in Mexico
City today, greeted by U.S.
Ambassador Ken Salazar.
Blinken, along with homeland
security secretary Alejandro
mayorkas and other top U.S.
Officials met with Mexico's
president on their second visit
since October to address the
migrant crisis.
In U.S. Is asking Lopes obrador
to make it harder for migrants
to move through Mexico and to do
more to stop migrants when they
try to enter Mexico from
Guatemala.
In exchange, Mexico wants the
U.S. To commit more aid to the
migrants' countries of origin
and ease sanctions on Venezuela
and Cuba.
The talks come as record numbers
of people try to enter the U.
S. From the southern border.
At times, last week, customs and
border protection stopped more
than 10,000 people a day, adding
to the more than 240,000
migrants that officials
encountered in November.
The numbers have stretched
border patrol to its limits,
with agents struggling to
process the influx as thousands
gathered in eagle pass, Texas,
in recent weeks.
U.S. Customs and border
protection closed other ports of
entry in Arizona and California
in the last month in order to
re-deploy officers to help with
migrant processing.
Underlining the pressure on U.S.
Officials, a caravan of migrants
is steadily making its way to
the water.
-- To the border.
An estimated 6000 people from
Central America, Venezuela, Cuba
and elsewhere have been waiting
for months in southern Mexico.
On Christmas eve, they began
their March northwards under the
beating sun.
They make up the largest caravan
in more than a year.
Many young and exhausted
families are among the masses,
including Jose's.
>> My daughter can't walk
anymore.
I carry her in my arms because
she needs to rest, she's only
three years old.
And she's not healthy, she's
ill.
Stephanie: Rosa journeyed from
El Salvador.
>> I demand politicians to touch
their hearts because many of us
are tired, without eating, and
with blisters on our feet.
Stephanie: While U.S. Leaders
seek solutions that would
control those coming into the
U.S., the migrants seek rest and
compassion.
Amna: For a closer look at the
situation on the southern
border, I'm joined by Elliot
spagat, immigration reporter
with the associated press.
Thanks so much for joining the
newshour.
What is the goal of the meeting
between top Biden administration
officials and the Mexican
president today?
Elliot: The west officials have
not made any public asks, but we
can infer from what has been
happening over the last few
weeks the numbers are
astronomical, they are
unprecedented to use the word of
the cbp acting commissioner,
above 10,000 arrests for illegal
crossings in December.
They want to get a handle on the
numbers.
This is not happening in a
political vacuum.
There are negotiations in
congress with aid to Ukraine in
the balance.
The U.S. Officials want to get a
better handle on the numbers and
to give one specific example,
the real crossings in eagle
pass, Texas and El Paso were
closed for five days.
That caused a lot of economic
losses.
What was happening was people
were coming up on the trains
through Mexico.
The U.S. Wants Mexico to do more
to stop that.
Law enforcement is what the U.S.
Is looking for.
Amna: You visited the Arizona
side of the border with Mexico
recently.
What did you see for yourself
about the situation and
specifically about the efficacy
of the border wall?
Elliot: I was in lukeville,
Arizona, one of the hotspots
right now.
About 3000 people are crossing a
day in that general area, much
of it through lukeville, a
border crossing that is closed
right now because of the need to
focus resources on processing
migrants.
It is a duty-free shop and a
restaurant.
There is very few agents around
but lots of people, probably
more from Senegal than any other
country, lots from Guinea,
Mexico of course, Guatemala.
They are sawing through the
walls, the smugglers are, on the
Mexican side.
They are using construction
great tools.
These are columns built during
the final days of the trump
administration.
They cut through and swing the
columns back and forth so people
can just walk through.
Young people, toddlers, it is
very easy to get through.
They walk for hours looking for
border patrol agents who are
nowhere to be found.
This could probably be stopped
by border patrol agent's but
they just don't have enough
there.
They are busy processing.
Commissioner Miller said he
wants Mexico to step up.
There were hundreds of breaches,
that they had been welded shut.
The dates were marked on where
they had been fixed and hundreds
of them over a 30 mile stretch.
Commissioner Miller said we need
Mexico to step up to do more to
stop people from breaching the
wall on the Mexican side.
Amna: You have been reporting on
the underlying causes of
increased migration, from
climate change to poverty, but
you've also emphasized in your
recent reporting the role of
technology in smuggling
operations.
I wonder if you would talk a
little bit more about what you
found out about how that
contributes to the increasing
flow of migrants.
Elliot: It vastly increases
global mobility.
We did a story on
Mauritanians, who very few
were crossing, then by March of
this year there were crossing by
several thousand a month.
They ply about 4000 Chinese --
fly about 4000 Chinese a month,
mostly through San Diego.
I mentioned the senegalese, from
uzbkistan, thousands from
countries ever month.
There are travel agencies, many
of them really are travel
agencies, they arrange flights
and communicate virtually over
social media.
Every migrant has a smartphone.
They use tiktok and Facebook and
YouTube and other apps to get
instructions.
So the smugglers are often not
with them physically, they are
just giving them instructions,
cross here, walk until you see a
border patrol agent.
That is a change from years ago.
Amna: How would you describe how
immigration politics have
shifted in the last year?
Elliot: To the right, for sure.
One big development has been the
large influx of migrants from
Venezuela and other countries to
New York, Chicago, Denver, other
Democrat run cities.
We are seeing with negotiations
in congress includes aid to
Israel and Ukraine as well as
border security measures, is a
lot of Democrats saying -- like
John Fetterman of Pennsylvania,
even dick Durbin, the official
champion of the dreamer
legislation, saying we need to
do something.
The Progressive wing of the
democratic party is very much
opposed to those changes.
They want to keep the asylum
system going.
The Republicans are split too.
Overall there seems to be a
growing consensus that something
needs to be done and more on the
enforcement side.
Amna: Thanks so much for joining
us with your insights.
Elliot: Thank you.
♪♪