United States Department of State
Washington DC
22 December 2023

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Mexico City, Mexico December 27, 2023.  Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will join Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall at a meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico.  Secretary Blinken will discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including actions to enable the reopening of key ports of entry across our shared border.  Secretary Blinken will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection, and underscore the urgent need for lawful pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region.

United States Department of State
Washington DC
28 December 2023

Mexico-U.S. Joint Communique: Mexico and the United States Reaffirm Their Shared Commitments on an Orderly, Humane and Regular Migration

President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador received yesterday in Mexico City a delegation of senior officials from the United States led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall. President López Obrador thanked President Joe Biden for sending the U.S. delegation to Mexico following the two leaders’ telephone conversation last week focused on migration management.
 
The two countries reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration. This includes reinforcing our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Ongoing cooperation also includes enhanced efforts to disrupt human smuggling, trafficking, and criminal networks, and continuing the work to promote legal instead of irregular migration pathways. Also, both delegations agreed on the importance of maintaining and facilitating the vital bilateral trade at our shared border.
 
President López Obrador highlighted the commitment of President Biden to pursue regular, orderly, and secure migration. He stressed the need to continue the diplomatic and political engagement with all countries in the region, as well as investing in ambitious development programs throughout the entire hemisphere of the Americas. Both delegations underlined the efforts that the Biden administration is pursuing through development assistance and humanitarian aid, as well as advancing new private investments in the region.
 
The delegations also discussed the benefit of regularizing the situation of long-term undocumented Hispanic migrants and DACA recipients, who are a vital part of the U.S. economy and society.
 
The two delegations agreed to meet again in Washington in January 2024 to continue to advance our strong partnership on migration management.
 
President López Obrador was accompanied by Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; Luisa María Alcalde Luján, Secretary of the Interior; Gen. Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of Defense; Alm. José Rafael Ojeda, Secretary of the Navy; Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection; Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Mexican Ambassador to the United States; Arturo Félix Medina, Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration, SEGOB; Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Head of the Unit for North America; and Armando López Cárdenas, Advisor to the Commissioner, INM; and Alejandro Celorio, Legal Counselor, SRE.
 
On behalf of President Biden, the United States was represented by Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, White House Homeland Security Advisor; Ken Salazar, United States Ambassador to Mexico; and Katie Tobin, Deputy Assistant to the President and NSC Coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mexico City, Mexico
28 December 2023

Mexico and United States reaffirm their shared commitment to orderly, humanitarian and regular migration

FOREIGN AFFAIRS-MEXICO-UNITED STATES Joint Press Release

Mexico and United States reaffirm their shared commitment to orderly, humanitarian and regular migration

The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, met yesterday in Mexico City with a delegation of senior U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.

The president thanked President Joe Biden for sending the U.S. delegation to Mexico following last week's telephone conversation between the two leaders that focused on immigration management.

Both countries reaffirmed their existing commitments to promote orderly, humane and regular migration. This includes strengthening our collaboration to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality and violence, and the joint initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

Our continued cooperation also includes intensified efforts to disrupt human smuggling, trafficking and criminal networks, and continued work to promote legal rather than irregular pathways for human mobility. In addition, both delegations agreed on the importance of maintaining and facilitating the vital bilateral trade on our shared border.

President López Obrador highlighted President Biden's commitment to seeking regular, orderly and safe migration. He stressed the need for continued diplomatic and political engagement with all countries of the region, and to invest in ambitious development programs throughout the hemisphere of the Americas.  Both delegations highlighted the efforts that the Biden administration is carrying out with development assistance and humanitarian aid, and by promoting new private investment in the region.

The delegations also discussed the benefits of regularizing the situation of Hispanic migrants who have been undocumented for several years and the DACA beneficiaries, who are a vital part of the US economy and society.

Both delegations agreed to meet again in Washington, D.C. in January 2024 to continue advancing our strong partnership on migration management.

President López Obrador was accompanied by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena Ibarra; Secretary of the Interior Luisa María Alcalde Luján; Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval; Secretary of the Navy José Rafael Ojeda; Secretary of Security and Civil Protection Rosa Icela Rodríguez; Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma Barragán; Arturo Félix Medina, Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration at the Interior Ministry; Chief Officer for North America Roberto Velasco Álvarez; Armando López Cárdenas, advisor to the National Institute of Migration (INM) commissioner; and Alejandro Celorio, Legal Advisor at the Foreign Ministry.

On President Biden's side, the United States was represented by Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas; U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar; White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall; and Katie Tobin, Special Assistant to President Biden and Senior Director for Transborder at the National Security Council.

The Hill
Washington DC
28 December 2023

Biden administration backtracks on ‘democratic decline’ as root cause of migration
by Rafael Bernal

The White House on Thursday issued a joint communiqué with Mexico that included “democratic decline” as a root cause of migration, and hours later deleted the phrase. The Mexican version did not include the phrase but was otherwise an exact translation using the agreed-upon language.

The joint statement was the result of a meeting between Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.

Both countries agreed to continue working together to better control migration in the Western Hemisphere by addressing root causes, continuing to build legal pathways for migrants and disrupting human smuggling networks.

“The two countries reaffirmed their existing commitments on fostering an orderly, humane, and regular migration,” read the White House’s original statement. “This includes reinforcing our partnership to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, inequality, democratic decline, and violence, and for the two countries’ initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.”

The Mexican version, identical save for the phrase “democratic decline,” caused an uproar among the country’s opposition, which has raised red flags over López Obrador’s institutional reforms.

López Obrador has derided institutions such as the country’s independent electoral authority as “neoliberal,” “conservative” and too costly for the country, pushing reforms and budget cuts to weaken them. To Mexico’s opposition, López Obrador’s actions are the very definition of “democratic decline.”

Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, the top foreign policy adviser to opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, accused Mexico’s government on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, of “shaving off” the term after the White House published its initial version.

But the White House reissued the English language version of the statement hours later, this time without “democratic decline.” An official with knowledge of the talks told The Hill the language was added by U.S. officials after the meeting. The White House did not immediately respond to a request from The Hill to clarify the reason for including or deleting the phrase.

Mexican officials had requested to include the U.S. embargo against Cuba and sanctions against Venezuela in the root causes section, but U.S. officials did not agree to that language, and it was not included in any of the three versions of the communiqué.