U.S. says security cooperation with Mexico ‘due for updated look’ ahead of talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States believes its security cooperation with Mexico is “due for an updated look,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday, ahead of meetings between senior U.S. and Mexican officials on Friday.

“This will really be one of the core elements of the discussions tomorrow,” Price said at a regular press briefing, adding that it was an “opportune” time for the two countries to talk about addressing changing security threats, including the trafficking of fentanyl and illicit finance. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation in Mexico City and will be joined by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and other officials.

Blinken will also meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, a senior Biden administration official told reporters. The two sides would discuss a new framework known as “the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities,” the official said. “We look forward to discussions with our Mexican counterparts during this trip on an updated security framework to meet today’s challenges and ways to reinvigorate security cooperation,” the official said.

The Biden administration’s first U.S.-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue comes as migration issues continue to rankle both North American countries, which share a 1,960-mile (3,155-km) border.