Mexican President Trying to 'Blackmail' Biden, Republican Says

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is trying to "blackmail" U.S. President Joe Biden, Republican Senator Ron Johnson told Newsweek.

The United States has seen an uptick in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months. The rising number of migrants at the border has added pressure for Biden to reach a deal with Republicans to tighten border security and curb migration as mayors across the country warn their cities lack the resources to handle the influx of migrants.

There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Obrador last week said he requested that the U.S. send $20 billion in funds as part of a cooperative plan to help Latin American countries as record numbers of citizens of these countries seek to immigrate to the U.S. He also urged Biden to suspend the U.S. blockade of Cuba, remove sanctions against Venezuela and grant visas to at least 10 million Hispanic workers already living in the U.S.

The proposal was met with criticism from some Republican senators, who have largely been critical of Biden's handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Johnson, who represents Wisconsin and serves on the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, told Newsweek that Obrador's request amounts to "blackmail."

"He's blackmailing Biden," Johnson said. "It's clear blackmail. I mean, Trump secured the border because he threatened tariffs, had Migrant Protection [Protocols], Return to Mexico in place, and then all of a sudden, you got Mexico to cooperate with this as well [as] Central American with Safe Third Country."

Johnson referred to the Safe Third Country deal that allowed asylum seekers who passed through a country on their journey to the U.S. to be sent back to that country, regardless of where their journey began, under the understanding the country could provide adequate protection for those migrants.

He continued: "But you have to have a president who wants to secure the border. We don't have that. We have a president that caused this. He's the root cause. He wants an open border. It's a real problem."

Newsweek reached out to the White House and President Obrador's office for comment via email.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, also criticized the proposal, telling Newsweek Obrador is a "socialist" and "anti-American."

"Most of the positions he's taken his whole time there have been ill to the national interests of the United States," he said.

The Biden administration has sought to work with Mexico to curb the number of migrants arriving at the southern border. Biden and Obrador spoke on the phone on December 21 about managing migratory flows, according to the White House.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall traveled to Mexico to discuss immigration matters with Mexican authorities.