“Now is the time to decide to put an end to this abandonment, this contempt and this forgetting of Latin America and the Caribbean”, declared López Obrador, during a meeting held in Mexico City on Monday with the President of the United States.

Biden “holds the key” to the region’s development, López Obrador pointed out.

In response, Joe Biden said that Washington spends billions of dollars in foreign aid around the world every year. “Unfortunately, our responsibility does not end with the Western Hemisphere,” he said.

The bilateral meeting served to prepare for a summit scheduled for today, between Biden, López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during which the three leaders will discuss migration flows, trade and climate change.

The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement on a change in migration policy, announced by Joe Biden last week.

According to the plan, the United States will return 30,000 illegal migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela to Mexico each month.

On the other hand, 30,000 people from these four countries who have sponsors, criminal background checks and a flight to the United States will be able to work legally in the country for two years.

On Monday, before the start of the meeting, López Obrador said he would consider accepting more immigrants than previously announced.

“We don’t want to pre-empt things, but that’s part of what we’re going to talk about at the summit,” López Obrador said. “We support this type of measure, to give people options, alternatives,” he said, adding that “the numbers can be increased.”

The number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border increased during Biden’s first two years in office.

More than 2.38 million people have crossed the border illegally as of September 30, the first time the number has topped two million.

VQ // EJ

By Impala News / Lusa

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