Mexico and the United States agreed to prepare an initiative to create jobs in Central Americain order to stop the migratory flow at the border, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday in Washington.
The meetings with the US government have made it possible “to agree on preparing a common initiative to create jobs in the short term for Central America and probably beyond,” Ebrad declared at a press conference, insisting that “it has to happen soon.” .
Mexico proposed “a conference in Central America to present the number of jobs we can create in the coming months, not so much the investment amounts but how many jobs we can create (…) by unifying efforts” because “otherwise we don’t see it being possible to achieve a significant reduction in migratory flows,” he added.
The chancellor met in the morning with the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas, with whom he agreed to create “a working group related to the migration issue in the short term.”
With him, he spoke about the challenges involved in the lifting, on May 23, of the health regulation that allows the expulsion of almost all irregular immigrants at the border, known as Title 42 and applied during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mayorkas and Ebrard spoke “about the potential for economic development, job creation and foreign investment in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and other countries in the region to promote a lasting solution” to migration, the DHS said in a statement. .
Mayorkas has emphasized, adds the note, “the need for the countries of the region to manage their respective borders, provide humanitarian aid to migrants who meet the requirements and repatriate” the others.
The rescission of Title 42 will probably increase the migratory flow, a controversial issue with a view to the mid-term elections in the United States in November.
“There was talk that he thinks there is going to be (immigration) pressure and on the other hand the government’s decision not to allow Title 42 to disappear,” Ebrad said about his meeting with Mayorkas.
The Mexican foreign minister also spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with whom he discussed the war in Ukraine and the Summit of the Americas to be held in Los Angeles in June.
“Mexico’s position is that no one should be excluded, we reiterate it,” said Ebrard, a day after the head of US diplomacy for the Americas, Brian Nichols, ruled out inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and the government of the Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro.
The two countries, however, share a focus on development, labor mobility or investment. For Blinken, it’s about shaping “a strong agenda.”