Latin American heads of state and government are meeting today in Mexico to discuss immigration management as tens of thousands of irregular migrants head to the United States border each month.

The regional summit is being hosted in Palenque, Chiapas state (south), which is flooded with migrants trying to reach the US.

In September alone, some 60,000 Venezuelans and 35,000 Guatemalans arrived in Mexico, according to Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed the presence of his counterparts from the main countries of origin of the migrants – Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela – as well as the Prime Minister of Haiti. He aspires to reach an agreement to “seek cooperation with the United States government.”

The regional summit is expected to attract the attention of the US, although the Middle East and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are in the foreground.

Returning from his trip to Tel Aviv, US President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve $105.85 billion in funding to financially support Israel and Ukraine, counter the Chinese threat (military and economic) and the management of migration flows at the southern borders of the country.

The US-Mexico border is the deadliest land migration corridor in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration. Last year, IOM recorded 686 deaths and disappearances of migrants in this area.