US and Mexico will boost deportation flights and enforcement to crack down on illegal migration

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are moving swiftly on new steps to crack down on illegal migration that include tougher enforcement on railways, on buses and in airports as well as increased repatriation flights for migrants from both the U.S. and Mexico.

The two leaders previewed the measures in a statement following a call on Sunday, which centered on their joint efforts to “effectively manage” migration and the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden and López Obrador said they are directing their national security aides to “immediately implement concrete measures” to reduce the number of illegal border crossings.

John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said the U.S. and Mexico will increase enforcement measures that would prevent major modes of transportation from being used to facilitate illegal migration to the border, as well as the number of repatriation flights that would return migrants to their home countries. Kirby also said the U.S. and Mexico would be “responding promptly to disrupt the surges.”

Arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border have actually declined in recent months, countering the usual seasonal trends that show migration tends to climb as weather conditions improve. U.S. officials have credited Mexican authorities, who have expanded their own enforcement efforts, for the decrease.

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