Mexico asks for border crossings to reopen during Blinken visit

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico pressed U.S. officials to reopen border crossings during a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said on Wednesday, as U.S. officials sought assistance to stem "irregular migration."

President Joe Biden's administration is seeking help from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's government to reduce migrant flows and cope with record numbers of people trying to reach the U.S. border, a key issue ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

The meetings come after more than half a million migrants this year crossed the dangerous Darien Gap jungle into Central America – double last year's record – many fleeing crime, poverty and conflict to seek entry into the United States.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) earlier this month temporarily closed two key rail border crossings for five days and shuttered other crossings in order to redeploy enforcement resources elsewhere in response to large numbers of migrants.

Barcena said "the importance of reopening border crossings is a priority" for Mexico.

"We are talking about the economic part, as well as the structural causes of migration," she told reporters after the meetings.

Lopez Obrador, who last week assured the U.S. that Mexico would help ease migratory pressures, earlier in the day said the U.S. Congress should be investing in poor people in Latin America and the Caribbean "instead of putting up barriers, barbed wire fences in the river, or thinking about building walls".

"It is more efficient and more humane to invest in the development of the people and that is what we have always proposed," Lopez Obrador told a press conference.

Lopez Obrador added he expects next year's U.S. election will bring the issue of migration to the forefront.

"We have to take care because campaigners use this issue as a rallying cry," Lopez Obrador said.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and restrict legal immigration if elected to a second four-year term in office.

Trump focused on building a wall on the Mexico border during his first term and has pledged to close gaps in the border wall if reelected. His administration built 450 miles (725 km) of barriers across the 1,954-mile (3,145-km) border, but much of that replaced existing structures.

Lopez Obrador met in Mexico City with Blinken, while the U.S. delegation also included Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

"The U.S.-Mexico partnership is crucial to prosperity and security in our countries and throughout the Americas. Good to discuss these issues, and our shared efforts to reduce irregular migration" with Lopez Obrador, Blinken said on social media.

On Wednesday, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers marched slowly north from southern Mexico in a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, many carrying small children.

"We don't need to go back to our country if we don't have anything there," said Nohemia Zendejas, a mother on the road with four children in tow. "I come from Venezuela and Venezuela is broken".

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, Sarah Morland and Valentine HilaireAdditional reporting by Jose TorresWriting by Drazen JorgicEditing by Brad Haynes, Alistair Bell and Lincoln Feast.)