Mexico City (AFP) - A regional migration and drug smuggling crisis is expected to dominate talks between US President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday.
Biden arrived in Mexico City late Sunday seeking closer security and economic ties, after a politically charged stop at the southern US border -- his first since taking office.
He was due to meet Monday and Tuesday with Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau one-on-one and also together in what is dubbed the "Three Amigos" summit.
While trade and environmental issues are also on the table, Biden has put a surge in irregular migration and dangerous drug trafficking front and center of his trip, his first to Mexico as president.
"Our problems at the border didn't arise overnight," Biden tweeted after his arrival.
"And they won't be solved overnight.But, we can come together to fix this broken system.We can secure the border and fix the immigration process to be orderly, fair, safe, and humane."
In his talks with Lopez Obrador, Biden "is looking to dive deep on a set of issues that are priorities for his administration, including continued close coordination on migration questions," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
"We also will spend a considerable amount of time...on how we can enhance and elevate our cooperation on fentanyl," he added, referring to the often-deadly opioid smuggled across the border by Mexican drug cartels.
Lopez Obrador, who joined Biden in his armored limousine for the journey from the airport, called for increased investment in the region so that people are less likely to flee their countries.
"Opportunities must be guaranteed to citizens, to workers of all countries in their places of origin," he told reporters.
'Where are our rights?'
On his way to Mexico, Biden stopped for several hours in the border city of El Paso, Texas, meeting with US officials and inspecting a section of the tall fencing that snakes along the frontier.
"They need a lot of resources.We're going to get it for them," Biden told reporters after his visit to a customs post.
Just ahead of Biden's arrival in Mexico, a line of migrants, some with children in their arms, were deported from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez.
Venezuelan Jose David Melendez told AFP that he had been apprehended by border guards at a church where he was taking refuge.
"The police officers from the border patrol came and hit us, made us run, pointed guns at us, pointed at children with firearms.Where are our human rights?" the 25-year-old said.
On Thursday Biden announced an expansion of powers to expel people showing up at the border without clearance.
At the same time, a legal, strictly enforced pathway will be created for up to 30,000 migrants a month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Asked whether the quota could be increased, Sullivan said Washington wanted to see how the changes unfold, adding: "I don't think we have a fixed number in mind."
Cartel violence
In 2021, the United States and Mexico announced a revamp of their fight against drug trafficking to address the root causes of migration, encourage economic development and bolster curbs against cross-border arms smuggling.
Mexico is plagued by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen more than 340,000 people murdered since the government deployed the military in the war on drugs in 2006.
Days before Biden's visit, Mexican security forces captured a son of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is serving a life sentence at a US prison.
The United States had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Ovidio Guzman's arrest.
Climate change and cooperation in clean energy technologies will also be on the summit agenda, with Mexico hoping to benefit from Washington's efforts to reduce its reliance on Asia-based manufacturers.
While Biden and Trudeau may raise their concerns with Lopez Obrador in private about Mexican energy sector reforms at the center of a trade spat, in public they are likely to emphasize the potential for closer collaboration.
Working together on supply chains and clean energy would boost all three economies and "reduces our dependencies on other countries and other parts of the world who don't necessarily share the same values," Sullivan said.
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