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Mexico and Venezuela announced Saturday that they have restarted repatriation flights of Venezuelans migrants in Mexico, the latest move by countries in the region to take on a flood of people traveling north to the United States.<\/p>\n
The move comes as authorities say at least 10,000 migrants<\/a><\/span> a day have been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of them asylum seekers. It also comes as a migrant caravan of thousands of people from across the region \u2014 largely Venezuelans \u2014 has trekked through southern Mexico this week.<\/p>\n The repatriation flights are part of an agreement<\/a><\/span> made between regional leaders during a summit in Mexico in October that aimed to seek solutions for migration levels that show few signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Relations said the two countries began repatriations with a flight on Friday and a second on Saturday in an effort to \u201cstrengthen their cooperation on migration issues.\u201d The statement also said the two countries plan to implement social and work programs for those repatriated to Venezuela.<\/p>\n \u201cMexico and Venezuela reiterate their commitment to address the structural causes that fuel irregular migration in the region, and to achieve a humanitarian management of such flows,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s government said it previously carried out a similar repatriation flight last Jan. 20 with 110 people.<\/p>\n Venezuelan authorities said Saturday that 207 Venezuelans had landed in Caracas on one of the latest flights.<\/p>\n Gustavo Vizcaino, director of Venezuela\u2019s migration agency, said the migrants came on a \u201cvoluntary return flight,\u201d part of a 2018 program of President Nicolas Maduro\u2019s government seeking to bring back Venezuelans who have fled the country\u2019s economic and political crisis.<\/p>\n As migration has soared in recent years, the U.S. government has pressured Latin American nations to control the movement of migrants north, but many transit countries have struggled to deal<\/a><\/span> with the quantities of people.<\/p>\n This week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Biden administration officials were in Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador about the high levels of migrants landing on the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n L\u00f3pez Obrador said he also spoke about the issue in a phone call with Presient Joe Biden on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked \u2014 Joe Biden asked to speak with me \u2014 he was worried about the situation on the border because of the unprecedented number of migrants arriving at the border,\u201d Mexico\u2019s leader said. \u201cHe called me, saying we had to look for a solution together.\u201d<\/p>\n L\u00f3pez Obrador has said he is willing to help, but in exchange he wants<\/a><\/span> the U.S. to send more development aid to migrants\u2019 home countries and to reduce or eliminate sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela.<\/p>\n