[ad_1]
The 2 leaders have at instances discovered themselves publicly at odds. And López Obrador, who skipped a Los Angeles summit final 12 months on migration as a result of the U.S. declined to ask three authoritarian nations within the Western Hemisphere, virtually determined to not attend this week’s Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation convention.
Throughout Friday’s assembly in San Francisco, the place they had been on the town for APEC, they had been largely complimentary to one another. Biden and López Obrador pledged to work collectively on two key points which have lengthy been the supply of battle between their two nations, although the 2 didn’t announce main new initiatives.
“We’re sincerely dedicated to continu(ing) to help on the fullest capability to forestall drug trafficking, particularly the doorway of fentanyl and different chemical precursors,” López Obrador stated via an interpreter, including that Mexico is “absolutely conscious of the harm that it poses to the US’ youth.”
“I need to inform you about my nice dialog with Xi Jinping on that problem,” Biden instructed López Obrador, an obvious reference to the settlement that he reached with China’s president this week to scale back the stream of fentanyl into the U.S.
The Mexican chief additionally thanked Biden for his administration’s work on migration, emphasizing that “Additional progress must be made to handle the migratory phenomenon. We’re engaged on that collectively, in coordination.”
Biden instructed López Obrador he “couldn’t have a greater associate.” The Mexican chief referred to as his counterpart a “good man” and an “extraordinary president.”
Republicans have sought to tie Biden and his insurance policies to the surge in migrants alongside the southern border and the proliferation of illicit and lethal medicine, reminiscent of fentanyl, coming into the U.S.
In 2022, deadly drug overdoses plateaued however remained close to a file excessive. And in August, the variety of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border reached an all-time excessive, earlier than declining this fall after the resumption of deportation flights to Venezuela. Crossings nonetheless stay unusually excessive and cities are struggling to accommodate rising migrant populations.
Biden’s dealing with of the migration problem seems to be one that he’s anticipated to proceed to confront in 2024.
In a Washington Publish-ABC Information ballot in September, 23 % of respondents stated they authorised of Biden’s dealing with of the immigration state of affairs on the U.S.-Mexico border whereas 62 % stated they disapproved. That compares with 28 % approval and 59 % disapproval in February.
This weekend, former president Donald Trump is anticipated to go to the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas as he seeks to take advantage of these weak numbers. There, he and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) will serve meals to members of Operation Lone Star, the governor’s state-led border crackdown, which has been the topic of a number of authorized battles.
The Rio Grande Valley alongside the U.S.-Mexico border, the place Trump will go to, has been seen as a possibility for Republicans to make strides with Latino voters.
The state’s GOP presidential major will not be till March, but when Trump wins the race, it may assist give him a big variety of delegates. In 2020, Biden misplaced Texas by six factors, coming nearer than any Democratic presidential candidate in years, because the state’s demographics shifted.
[ad_2]