MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador yesterday said he will emphasise how important migrant labour is to the United States economy, in a virtual meeting with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, tomorrow.
Speaking at a public event in the northern state of Zacatecas, Lopez Obrador said migration will be a central topic of the leaders’ conversation.
The US “is going to need Mexican and Central American workers in order to grow, to produce”, he said he will tell Biden.
The Mexican president estimated that the US economy will need 600,000 to 800,000 migrant workers a year, underscoring the importance of “reaching a good agreement” on migration.
He noted that during World War II, the US and Mexico reached their so-called “Bracero” agreement, under which Mexican farm workers travelled legally to the US to fill jobs left vacant by Americans sent abroad to fight.
The situation is similar today, said Lopez Obrador, adding: “Without Mexican labour, how can the US be sure of increased production?”
Migration, always a thorny issue between the neighbouring countries, rose to the forefront during the administration of Donald Trump, a fierce critic of illegal – and often, of legal – migration.
Faced with Trump’s threats of tariffs, Lopez Obrador agreed to keep migrants in Mexico while their US asylum requests were processed.
US civil society groups estimate that some 70,000 undocumented migrants were deported to Mexico between January 2019 and December last year.
Roughly 6,000 remain in the country, according to the Mexican government.
With Biden’s arrival in the White House, the US cancelled that controversial programme, and since February 19, has allowed small groups into the country to pursue their asylum requests.
Biden and Lopez Obrador last spoke by phone on January 23, primarily about migration and the Covid-19 pandemic. – AFP, February 28, 2021
