While Vice President Harris had her first meeting with Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador she says they never discussed Mexico’s refusal to take back migrant families, a leading factor behind the overwhelming border crisis. Harris visited Mexico for two days to discuss the “root causes” of the border surge yet it seems she accomplished little to nothing.
Fox News reports:
The U.S. is, on paper, expelling single adults and migrant families via Title 42 public health protections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the administration has been releasing a number of families into the U.S. interior – often without notices to appear in court – due to Mexico’s refusal to take back in migrant families with tender age children.
U.S. officials have said that the refusal took place just days after Inauguration Day and led directly to a surge at the border.
“The surge of family units began in the Rio Grande Valley on Jan 23 when Tamaulipas stopped taking back Northern Triangle families with tender-aged children under the age of 7,” acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commission Troy Miller told lawmakers last month.
“The situation on March 19, we encountered 2,439 migrants between the ports of entry in RGV alone,” he said. “We had over 2,600 unaccompanied children of which 1,943 were held over 72 hours in our soft-sided facilities.”
When Harris was asked if she came to agreements with Mexico’s President about taking back more families turned away via Title 42 she said that it was not discussed.
