Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told President Biden on Tuesday that the U.S. should “legalize” immigrants living and working in the country, even as he said conservatives “will be screaming all over the place.” López Obrador listed recommendations on the issue of immigration and the crisis on the US-Mexico border. Lopez Obrador, who skipped the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June, recommended that Biden increase temporary work visas to ensure there is no labor shortage. Lopez Obrador then appeared to turn to the issue of illegal immigrants already in the US “It is necessary for us to legalize and give certainty to immigrants who for years live and work in a very honest way, and who also contribute to the development of this great nation,” he said. BIDEN, MEETING WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT, URGES REGIONAL HELP TO STOP BORDER SMUGGLING Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador listens as he meets with President Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. ((AP Photo/Susan Walsh)) While he did not explicitly say he was already seeking a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the country, López Obrador said what he was asking would spark anger from conservatives — who have fiercely opposed amnesty proposals pushed by the Biden administration and others Democrats in Congress. “I know your opponents, the conservatives, will be screaming everywhere, even to heaven — they will be shouting to heaven,” he said. López Obrador continued to give advice to President Biden. “But without a bold, bold program of development and prosperity, it will not be possible to solve problems … it will not be possible to get the support of the people,” he said. “In the face of this crisis, the way out is not through conservatism, the way out is through transformation,” López Obrador added. “We must be bold in our actions.” Immigration was expected to be at the top of the agenda for talks between the leaders of the two countries. Biden talked about tackling fentanyl and working together to stop human trafficking. “But as you know, Mr. President, we need all countries in the region to join us in tracking this multi-billion dollar smuggling industry that preys on our most vulnerable, including the 53 souls who died in a tractor trailer in San Antonio last month,” Biden said. There were more than 239,000 migrant encounters in May, a record high. The number of migrants who have passed through Mexico on their way to the US is likely to eclipse that of fiscal year 2021, when more than 1.7 million migrants were encountered. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Biden administration has focused on addressing “root causes” such as violence, climate change and corruption in Central America. He tried to make it a top priority of the Summit of the Americas in June as well. The US offered a number of commitments at the summit, including more visas, more refugee resettlement, bigger “reunification” programs and hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian and development aid funding for refugees and vulnerable migrants across the hemisphere. Adam Shaw is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, focusing on immigration. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
