Mexico expects more migration after U.S. ends COVID border restrictions

By Ted Hesson and Kylie Madry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Mexico is preparing to handle the prospect of extra migrants crossing the state when the United States lifts immigration limits put in position in response to the pandemic, Mexico’s international minister stated on Tuesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration stated in April it prepared to conclusion the community health and fitness order known as Title 42, which lets the expulsion of migrants to protect against the spread of COVID-19, on Might 23, whilst a federal judge a short while ago blocked the plan from proceeding.

“There could be a issue of larger migration flows, so we’ll have to start to operate on some ideas,” Overseas Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a news conference in Washington following assembly with leading U.S. officials.

The Division of Homeland Security (DHS) explained earlier that its chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, had reviewed the U.S. government’s strategy for ending the policy, called Title 42, in a conference with Ebrard.

Nevertheless, when questioned regardless of whether Biden’s prepare to unwind the policy would be ample, Ebrard reported he essential to evaluation the entire proposal. He underscored that Mexico would not loosen up on migration controls.

“We are not heading to enable … Mexico turn into a nation in which just anybody can pass through,” he said.

In recent many years, hundreds of thousands of Central Us residents have crossed by Mexico on their way to the U.S. border. Additional not long ago, migrants from other countries these kinds of as Cuba and Haiti have also traversed Mexico in an energy to enter the U.S.

As section of a regional effort to curb migration, U.S. officials agreed to a Mexican proposal to launch a career generation plan in Central The us, Ebrard mentioned.

He also noted that U.S. officers set out a proposal for Mexico to develop into a large-scale clean up energy producer, notably from solar resources.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pushed to prioritize the function of the condition in the energy industry, triggering worry from the United States that such moves could hamper expense and violate a new trade offer.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Anthony Esposito in Mexico Metropolis Composing by Kylie Madry Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Leslie Adler)