President Joe Biden announced weeks ago that Vice President Kamala Harris would oversee the chaotic surge of thousands of migrants into the United States, but she has yet to tour the U.S. border with Mexico.
The White House announced Harris will hold a virtual meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on May 7 to discuss “migration” but that will not be the main focus of the discussion, according to the Daily Mail:
Mexico’s top diplomat revealed the news and said the video meeting will focus on Mexico’s questioned tree-planting program.
López Obrador is trying to get the United States to help fund a massive expansion of the program into Central America as a way to stem migration.
It comes amid a dramatic surge in illegal crossings at the border, with more than 172,000 encounters in March alone, including a historic number of unaccompanied children. Harris’ office said in a statement that the meeting will focus on ‘the common goals of prosperity, good governance and addressing the root causes of migration.’ It did not mention the tree-planting initiative.
López Obrador spoke about his ‘Planting Life’ program at the virtual climate change summit Biden staged last week. The idea is to pay farmers to plant 1 billion fruit and timber trees in Mexico. The program has been extended to El Salvador, and López Obrador wants U.S. funding to further extend it to Honduras and Guatemala.- READ MORE
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