Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that his government would step up efforts to contain irregular migration flows, ahead of a high-level United States visit next week.

The pledge came a day after Lopez Obrador spoke with US President Joe Biden by telephone about the hot-button issue.

Lopez Obrador said the "extraordinary" migration situation would be the focus of talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials in Mexico City on Wednesday.

He said that Mexico would boost containment measures in the south near the Guatemalan border.

"The agreement is that we continue working together and we already have a proposal to reinforce our plans," Lopez Obrador said.

Blinken will be accompanied on his visit by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood Randall, the Biden administration said Thursday.

Blinken will "discuss unprecedented irregular migration… and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including actions to enable the reopening of key ports of entry across our shared border," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

The US delegation will "underscore the urgent need for lawful pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region," he added in a statement.

The talks come as the rival Republican Party pushes Biden's Democrats for major changes on immigration policy in exchange for approving a package of emergency assistance for Ukraine and Israel.

WITH AFP