Mexico does not work for the United States, Mexican ambassador says

Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, claimed that Mexico "does not do the job of the United States" in terms of migration. However, both nations view the issue as a regional problem and should collaborate on an equal footing, said Moctezuma in an interview with El Universal.

Moctezuma said that the Mexican government conditioned its collaboration with the U.S. for the "Stay in Mexico" program implemented again at the end of 2021. 

"Before we were only a transit country or Mexicans would go to the United States. Now Mexico has become a country of refuge, and there have been more than 100,000 requests for asylum last year. This change that is taking place in the international migratory phenomenon, and of North America, the United States and Mexico, requires us to have a clear migratory policy," he said. 

The representative of the Mexican government said that the U.S. immigration policy is being redefined. However, he claimed that the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has managed to work with Washington to protect migrants.

"We are permanently in dialogue with the U.S. Congress, with the Executive Branch, the White House, to express our points of view regarding migration. The most important part is that there is a substantial population in the United States that is undocumented, that lives in fear. We have to achieve their immigration status, to allow them to live their lives in freedom, and this is part of the vision expressed by President (Joe) Biden," added the Mexican Ambassador.

Migration Protection Protocols (MPP), or "Stay in Mexico" as it is commonly known, is a measure implemented by the Donald Trump administration that forces people who wish to obtain asylum in the United States to wait for the procedure's outcome outside that country.

The measure was suspended in January 2021 by President Biden and reinstated in November following a court order.