U.S. -Mexico Border
U.Due south. President Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned migrants on Thursday not to believe claims of an "open" border with the U.S. now that President Joe Biden has been elected. Migrants cantankerous the Rio Grande natural edge between El Paso, state of Texas, US, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico in search of political asylum on January 26, 2021. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned migrants to exist wary of false claims from traffickers that the "doors are open" to the U.S., now that President Joe Biden has taken office.

"Our blood brother migrants should have this information then that they won't exist deceived by human traffickers, who paint a rosy moving-picture show," he said on Thursday.

A "rosy picture" of open passage at the U.S.' southwest border hasn't been executed by Biden withal. He has only taken initial actions to dismantle his predecessor's immigration policies.

"Now, for case, that there is a U.Due south. immigration policy to regularize the situation of migrants, Mexicans and our Cardinal American brothers, people recollect that at present the doors are open, that President Biden is going to immediately regularize all migrants," López Obrador said.

Concluding week, the Biden assistants announced executive orders on immigration, which include measures such as a family unit reunification task forcefulness, a review of former President Donald Trump'southward Migration Protection Policy (MPP), and steps to amend the naturalization path.

"It is not true that anybody tin go now to the United States and they will be regularized, that has non been defined notwithstanding," he said.

Amid high rates of arrests at the U.S.-United mexican states border, the Biden administration has been adamant information technology needs time to improve its immigration strategy. The White House said on Wednesday that it volition need to take boosted steps to put a "comprehensive process and system" in place at the U.S. edge with Mexico.

"Aviary processes at the edge will not occur immediately; it will take time to implement," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a press conference on Midweek. "We don't want people to put themselves at danger at a time where information technology is non the right time to come up."

Andrew Rudman, director of the Mexico Establish at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, wrote in an email to Newsweek that López Obrador'south comments are a "positive" signal the Mexican president may be "coordinating behind the scenes" with the U.S. on a strategy. Just he said López Obrador's words also reveal the difficult situation migrants are facing.

"It reflects the reality that a big influx of migrants toward the U.S. at this time will find the door closed," said Rudman, "which means they volition current of air up in Mexican border towns already under considerable force per unit area to back up those migrants in camps and settlements awaiting aviary hearings."

López Obrador besides referenced the Jan 22 massacre of 19 people as rationale for his continued defense of the state's southern border between Guatemala and Mexico. Ane dozen Mexican state police were arrested for the brutal killing of the migrants, some of which were Guatemalan. The migrants' bodies were institute burned and piled in a pickup truck.

"This was e'er our statement, that we need to protect migrants, watch out for them," he said. "If they enter (Mexico) and spread out, we cannot go on an middle on them or protect them, and they current of air upward in the easily of organized crime, they are in danger."

Rudman said the massacre "certainly underscores the dangers of the expedition across Mexico and the challenge facing Mexico as it combats organized crime and abuse including within state police force enforcement agencies."

López Obrador previously heeded Trump's immigration policies and ordered police enforcement to protect Mexico's edge with Central America to keep caravans of migrants from inbound the country, the Associated Press reported.

Rudman added that the overall bulletin from López Obrador is a good step forward for U.S.-United mexican states relations: "Discouraging migrants from believing the claims of traffickers who profit from their desire to drift is both proficient domestic policy for López Obrador and sends the message that he appreciates the claiming facing President Biden and his team."

Newsweek has reached out the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.