Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has urged the US to make major reforms to its immigration policy as thousands of migrants were blocked by police in neighbouring Guatemala.
Mr Lopez Obrador said he was hopeful that President-elect Joe Biden would agree to work with Mexico and other countries on the issue.
About 7,000 migrants, mostly from Honduras, have entered Guatemala.
They hope to travel on to Mexico and eventually reach the US border.
Every year, tens of thousands of Central American migrants try to reach the US, often on foot, in groups known as “caravans”.
They say they are fleeing persecution, violence and poverty in their home countries. Conditions have been made worse by the devastation wrought by two huge hurricanes that battered Central America last November.
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In remarks on Monday, Mr Lopez Obrador urged the US to reform its policies on immigration.
“I think the time has come for the commitment [to immigration reform] to be fulfilled, and that is what we hope,” he said.
“In Joe Biden’s campaign, he offered to finalise immigration reform and I hope that he is able to achieve this. That is what I hope.”
He said his government would try to dissuade migrants from crossing into Mexico but added that the rights of all migrants must be respected.
In Guatemala on Monday, security forces broke up a caravan of about 4,000 mostly Honduran migrants who had been camped out near the village of Vado Hondo.