The leaders of a dozen Latin American countries met in Mexico on Sunday to discuss how to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants, many of whom are trying to reach the United States.

For Washington, the migration crisis is massive and fundamental, and has political consequences on the scale of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Platform X at the start of the summit that he wanted to “unite efforts, will and resources to address the causes of the migration phenomenon”.

López Obrador stressed that “this is a humanitarian issue in which we must act in solidarity.”

As immigration has become a hot political issue in both countries with presidential elections next year, 1.7 million migrants have arrived at the Mexico-US border this year alone.

In September, 60,000 migrants were registered as arriving in Mexico from Venezuela, along with 35,000 Guatemalans and 27,000 Hondurans, according to the Mexican government.

López Obrador received his Venezuelan counterparts Nicolás Maduro, Cuban Miguel Diaz-Canel and Colombian Gustavo Pedro, among others.

The leaders met in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, which has become a hotbed for thousands of people from South and Central America and the Caribbean trying to cross Mexico into the United States.

An immigrant in a nearby shelter described the meeting as a “summit of oppressors” and specifically mentioned the presidents of Venezuela and Cuba.

“I think they will decide to deport us,” said 33-year-old Venezuelan Jorge Rodriguez as he continued his way north.

Under the weight of US sanctions and political and economic crises, some 7.1 million Venezuelans have fled their country in recent years, challenging their neighbors in South America.

About 130 Venezuelan migrants from the United States returned to their country on Wednesday in the first deportation flight since the deal between the two countries, although Washington has yet to recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s re-election.

Venezuelan officials recently said the U.S. is returning about 70 flights a week of migrants to their home countries.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration recently granted protection from deportation to allow 472,000 Venezuelans to obtain work and residence permits within 18 months, but this only applies to those who entered before July 31 of this year.