{"id":115514,"date":"2021-02-28T13:13:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T05:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=115514"},"modified":"2021-02-28T13:13:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T05:13:05","slug":"us-needs-migrant-labor-mexican-president-to-tell-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=115514","title":{"rendered":"US needs migrant labor, Mexican president to tell Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.jamaicaobserver.com\/apps\/pbcsi.dll\/storyimage\/JO\/20210227\/ARTICLE\/210229660\/AR\/0\/AR-210229660.jpg&amp;maxh=332&amp;maxw=504\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (L) and US President Joe Biden<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MEXICO CITY, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that in a virtual meeting Monday with President Joe Biden he will emphasise how important migrant labor is to the US economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking at a public event in the northern state of Zacatecas, Lopez Obrador said migration would be a central topic of the leaders&#8217; conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States &#8220;is going to need Mexican and Central American workers in order to grow, to produce,&#8221; he said he would tell Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mexican president estimated that the US economy would need 600,000 to 800,000 migrant workers a year, underscoring the importance of &#8220;reaching a good agreement&#8221; on migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He noted that during World War II, the US and Mexico reached their so-called Bracero agreement, under which Mexican farmworkers traveled legally to the US to fill jobs left vacant by Americans sent abroad to fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation is similar today, Lopez Obrador added, saying, &#8220;Without Mexican labor, how can the United States be sure of increased production?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Migration, always a thorny issue between the neighboring countries, rose to the forefront during the administration of Donald Trump, a fierce critic of illegal &#8211; and often of legal &#8211;&nbsp;migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faced with Trump&#8217;s threats of tariffs, Lopez Obrador had agreed to keep migrants in Mexico while their US asylum requests are processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US civil society groups estimate that some 70,000 undocumented migrants were deported to Mexico between January 2019 and December 2020. Roughly 6,000 remain in the country, according to the Mexican government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Biden&#8217;s arrival in the White House, the US canceled that controversial program and, since Feb 19, has allowed small groups into the country to pursue their asylum requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biden and Lopez Obrador last spoke by phone on Jan 23, primarily about migration and the COVID-19 pandemic. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (L) and US President Joe Biden MEXICO CITY, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that in a virtual meeting Monday with President Joe Biden he will emphasise how important migrant labor is to the US economy. Speaking at a public event in the northern [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115514"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}