Mexico spends $1.5 billion on US border modernization

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico says that his government will spend $1.5 billion to improve the border between Mexico and the US. After meeting US President Joe Biden at the White House, he made the announcement.

In a joint statement, the US president and the Mexican president called for a “bold program” to deal with the record number of migrants crossing the border between the US and Mexico. The two men also said they would do more to stop the spread of drugs.

US President Biden had earlier called the flow of migrants “a shared hemispheric challenge.”

Just as he took office, a record number of people crossed the US’s southern border with Mexico to come to the US. More than 2.8 million people have been arrested since he took office.

A month before their meeting, Mr. López Obrador turned down an invitation to the US-hosted Summit of the Americas. He said he would only go if the presidents of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela were also invited. The worst part of the sometimes tense relationship between Mr. López Obrador and Former President Trump was that he didn’t attend the summit.

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But on Tuesday, Biden called Mexico an “equal partner” and told his Mexican counterpart, “Despite the overblown headlines we sometimes see, you and I have a strong, productive relationship.”

Mr. López Obrador agreed that “we’ve been able to work together as good friends and true allies,” but he said that Mexican grievances were “not easy to forget.”

Migration was the most crucial topic they talked about, and Biden thanked the Mexican President for “stepping up” by giving Central American migrants temporary work visas.

“This is a proven strategy that fuels economic growth and reduces irregular migration,” said President Joe Biden.

In response, President López Obrador asked President Biden to let more migrant workers into the US. “It’s essential that we give certainty to migrants who have lived and worked in an honest way in this great nation.”

President Biden liked that Mexico said it would spend $1.5 billion to improve the border, but it wasn’t clear how these plans would help stop people from coming to the US illegally.