Capito part of bipartisan group's trip to Mexico City

A bipartisan delegation that included Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., returned from a weekend trip to Mexico Monday after meeting face-to-face with Mexico President López Obrador.

Capito has been an outspoken critic of how the southern border situation is being handled by the Biden administration and by Mexico.

“As a neighbor and as the top destination for U.S. travelers, Mexico’s security and stability has major implications for our own safety and prosperity,” Capito said after the trip. “The chaos at our southern border, fentanyl’s devastating impacts on American communities, and the violence and trafficking perpetrated by Mexican cartels are some of the top concerns for West Virginians and Americans across our country.”

During the trip, the delegation received briefings from U.S. intelligence officials, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar on the United States’ security posture with regards to Mexico, recent killings of Americans in the country, efforts to stop drug trafficking, and illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The delegation shared their concerns with Mexico’s handling of these issues with Obrador and members of his administration.

“It is clear that leaders in both Washington and Mexico City must do more to secure our border and stop the illicit flows that ravage communities on both sides,” Capito said.

“The United States and Mexico share a common border, which means we should have a shared interest in working together to address the security challenges that put American and Mexican lives at risk, including drugs, murderous cartels, and unchecked migration,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, leader of the delegation, said in a statement about the trip. “Our delegation made clear to President López Obrador that his administration must do more to address these issues so that we can maintain our historically strong economic and cultural partnership, and I am hopeful that our candid conversations will lead to collaborative solutions that make both countries safer and more prosperous.”

The Hill reported that Obrador told the delegation that he would personally work with China to quell trans-Pacific shipments of fentanyl precursors that are processed into the deadly drug in Mexico, according to two of the American representatives.

Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., also visited Mexico last week on a trade mission. She was part of a bipartisan delegation of Ways and Means Committee members who also visited Ecuador and Guyana.

During the trip, the delegation met with government leaders to discuss the obligation to buy American made products under the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), highlight new trade opportunities between Ecuador and the United States, and to encourage new US-Guyana trade and energy relations.

“I was honored to join my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee on this international trade and energy focused trip,” Miller said in a statement after the trip. “It was a pleasure to sit down with each of the presidents from Mexico, Ecuador and Guyana to encourage cordial trade between our nations. These meetings were beneficial in understanding the critical relationship and shared commitment between our countries.”

Miller said the group highlighted that the United States should “continue strengthening and improving partnerships with our allies to prevent our adversaries from leading in the trade and energy field.”

In Mexico City, the Ways and Means delegation met with Obrador to consider new supply chain trade routes between Mexico and the United States — and away from China.

During this meeting, they also discussed Mexico’s commitment under the USMCA to ban imports made from forced labor and the ongoing crisis on their shared border.

In Ecuador, Miller and the delegation met with President Guillermo Lasso and members of his cabinet to encourage the increase of U.S. engagement in Ecuador to prevent and terminate China’s influence in the region.

In Guyana, the bipartisan delegation met with President Dr. Mohamed Irfanan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jageo. With Guyana’s booming oil sector, the Ways and Means committee highlighted how America can aid Guyana in developing, extracting and selling Guyanese oil while preventing China from achieving energy dominance.