President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discuss migration in latest call

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden spoke with his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, about cooperating on migration policy as the U.S. leader continues to deliberate whether to take executive action that would crack down on the number of migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border.

The call occurred on Sunday at Biden’s request, López Obrador said during his daily news conference Monday in Mexico City. In a joint statement, Biden and López Obrador said the call centered on their joint efforts to “effectively manage” migration and “strengthen operational efficiency” on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We talk periodically,” López Obrador said. “I seek him out, he seeks me out, we chat.”

The joint statement said Biden and López Obrador have directed their national security aides to “immediately” put in place concrete measures to reduce the number of unauthorized border crossings. The policies would also protect human rights, according to the statement. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not elaborate what those new measures were, nor would officials from the National Security Council.

The Mexican leader said the two countries have made progress in controlling unauthorized migration by persuading many migrants not to use illegal methods to move from country to country. López Obrador also applauded a January decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed Border Patrol agents to resume cutting razor wire that the state of Texas had installed along the border to try and deter migration.

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