Fentanyl, Illegal Migration and Guns Top Agenda as Blinken Visits Mexico

President Biden’s prime cupboard officers will search to forge a united entrance with Mexico throughout a sequence of conferences in Mexico City on Thursday that can concentrate on drug and gun trafficking, in addition to unlawful migration.

The U.S. officers — Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland — arrived within the Mexican capital on Wednesday night. The are notably centered on bolstering efforts with Mexico to curtail the stream of lethal fentanyl wreaking havoc in communities all through the United States.

American and Mexican officers have adopted more and more vital rhetoric over the easiest way to dam the trafficking of the artificial drug, which is driving down life expectancy within the United States.

“The men and women of the Justice Department are working tirelessly every day to address the three core challenges we will discuss during our meetings: fentanyl, firearms trafficking and human smuggling,” Mr. Garland mentioned in an announcement to The New York Times on Wednesday.

“The fentanyl being trafficked into the United States is the deadliest drug threat we have ever faced,” he added. “To fight it, we are going after every link in the cartels’ fentanyl trafficking networks, at every stage, and in every part of the world.”

During their go to, Mr. Garland, Mr. Mayorkas and Mr. Blinken will meet with a spread of Mexican officers, together with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador; his overseas minister, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra; and his safety secretary, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.

Officials from each nations will maintain a news convention on Thursday afternoon, however they don’t seem to be anticipated to unveil new bilateral insurance policies.

U.S. officers in current weeks have pushed Mexico to speculate extra assets to intercept the chemical substances shipped from China to Mexico’s ports and used to make fentanyl. The Biden administration additionally needs Mexican legislation enforcement to crack down on labs the place it’s produced. But Mr. López Obrador has denied fentanyl is made in Mexico.

The two nations may also goal to enhance their technique for deterring unlawful migration within the Western Hemisphere — considered one of Mr. Biden’s main political vulnerabilities because the 2024 presidential marketing campaign ramps up.

U.S. Border Patrol officers recorded greater than 200,000 apprehensions of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border in September, the best month-to-month whole thus far this yr. They embody about 50,000 apprehensions of Venezuelans, in keeping with an administration official who spoke anonymously to substantiate the preliminary information. CBS News earlier reported the border crossing information.

As migrants have overwhelmed border communities and cities all through the United States, the Biden administration has more and more relied on Mexico and Central American international locations to create authorized pathways for immigrants and to bolster their very own border safety to stop folks from making the journey north.

“The Biden administration will surely talk about its efforts to have more of the processing occur farther away from the border,” mentioned Andrew Rudman, director of the Mexico Institute on the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan analysis institute based mostly in Washington. He added that the officers would additionally most probably focus on Mr. López Obrador’s current name for a summit to deal with migration, particularly for Latin American nations. He snubbed an identical summit hosted by Mr. Biden final yr.

As the variety of border crossings has soared, so, too, has the criticism towards Mr. Biden from members of his personal Democratic Party.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois wrote a letter to the president this week saying, “The federal government’s lack of intervention and coordination at the border has created an untenable situation for Illinois.” And New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, has for months criticized the Biden administration, warning that the tens of 1000’s of migrants will exhaust municipal assets. He can be touring to Mexico and South America this week.

During a go to to Texas earlier than arriving in Mexico City on Wednesday, Mr. Blinken projected optimism about partnering with Mexico to develop options to the disaster.

“I have to say we probably have more cooperation with Mexico now than since I’ve been doing this,” Mr. Blinken mentioned.

Mexico has additionally been urgent the Biden administration to do extra to cease the smuggling of firearms and different weapons from the United States to Mexico. U.S. officers mentioned, nonetheless, that American legal guidelines make it straightforward to purchase and resell firearms.