Mexican Leader Says Biden To Send 4 Billion To Help Developments in Certain Latin American Countries
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, president of Mexico during the announcement that Mexico and Argentina will produce the Oxford Coronavirus Vaccine at Palacio Nacional on August 13, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico. The reached agreement includes a initial production of 150 million doses of the potential COVID-19 vaccine with British global bio-pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The vaccines for Latin America (except Brazil) will be produced in Argentina and Mexico. Hector Vivas/Getty Images

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday the cause of the immigration surge and the need to respond to the root cause of why people migrate.

López Obrador said on Saturday that Biden told him that the United States would send $4 billion to help developments in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. These nations are known to have a surge in migration through Mexico to the United States, according to a Fox News report.

Mexico has blocked recent attempts of Honduran migrant caravans to cross Mexico.

Mexico continues to pledge to block mass movements to the U.S. border of the migrant caravans. However, there has also been a shortage of potential flashpoints between the U.S. and Mexico.

Mexico demanded the return of then-Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos was arrested in October in Los Angeles.

Mexico threatened to restrict U.S. agents in Mexico if Cienfuegos isn't returned.

Charges against Cienfuegos were dropped and U.S. prosecutors agreed to have Cienfuegos returned to Mexico.

Despite the drop of charges, Mexico passed a law restricting foreign agents and removing their immunity and went on to publish that U.S. case file against Cienfuegos, according to a U.S. News report.

Biden's Immigration Bill

Biden sent an immigration bill to Congress with goals in contrast to the Trump administration's policies.

However, experts say that it will take a lot more than what is being proposed to address the issues that cause immigration from the Latin American region.

Biden's bill comes after a Honduran migrants' caravan is heading north to the United States and was blocked by Guatemalan security forces.

Biden administration officials cautioned migrants not to make the journey to the U.S. However, experts believe people from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador will keep on attempting to migrate to safer locations, including the U.S.

Biden has prompted a $4 billion four-year plan that targets to decrease violence, corruption, and poverty in the said Latin American countries.

The bill also seeks to establish centers throughout Centra America for people to seek refugee resettlement in either the U.S. or other countries.

Ariel Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, says that the $4 billion over the course of four years alone will not be enough to address the underlying issues.

Soto said that investment from the U.S. needs to go together with partnerships with the governments of Central American countries and Mexico.

This also includes a special focus on education and jobs for youth and not just attention on security and enforcement measures as what was done during Trump's and Obama's term.

Soto said that $4 billion is an upgrade and will bring significant changes.

"But it is only going to be effective if it's sustainable over decades...it can't be just four years, it can't be eight years, it has to be sustained," Soto was quoted on a Time report.

Soto added that it is not an effort that should only be done by the U.S. He said that López Obrador should also support investing in Central American countries.