The Heat explores US-Mexico presidental meeting and its impact on policy

The Heat

Immigration and Cuba were high on the agenda when Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto met with U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday.

“I described to President Peña Nieto our efforts to fix our broken immigration system here in the United States and to strengthen our borders as well,” U.S. President Barack Obama said.

The United States and Mexico share the most frequently crossed border in the world with Mexico spending $500 billion buying and selling more U.S. goods than any other country except Canada and China.

For Peña Nieto, the trip was a break from crises back home where economic growth has slowed, the peso is falling in value, and controversy swirls on a number of other fronts including the recent abduction and murder of 43 students.

The Heat’s Anand Naidoo interviewed Latin American expert Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela and Mexico during the Clinton administration.

Anand Naidoo also interviewed a panel of experts about the challenges facing both American countries.

  • Omar Garcia-Ponce, a Ph.D. candidate in politics at New York University who specializes in comparative politics and the political economy of organized crime.
  • Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society.
  • Vidal Romero, a political science professor at the university, Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico.