Vice President Kamala Harris and Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met virtually Friday to discuss immigration and regional development.
In his introductory remarks, AMLO, as he is widely known, flipped former Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz’s famous observation around, saying “blessed Mexico, so close to God, and not so far from the United States.”
During their conversation, the two leaders discussed addressing the root causes of Central American migration through regional development efforts, according to summaries from both countries.
“We agree with the immigration policy you all are undertaking, and we’re going to help,” AMLO said. “You can count on us.”
On Thursday, AMLO said he would likely bring up restrictions on northbound crossings imposed to slow the pandemic that have prevented many Mexicans from crossing into the United States over the last year. Harris and AMLO discussed the border situation in hopes of promoting binational commerce, while taking the state of the pandemic into account, at least according to the Mexican summary.
