Biden, Mexican president talk immigration policy
Pressure is mounting over White House plan to end Title 42 expulsion authority.
WASHINGTON — President Biden held talks Friday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a looming deadline to lift COVID-related restrictions at the U.S. southern border magnified concerns over the administration’s immigration policies and an increase in illegal border crossings.
The conversation — which lasted 52 minutes and touched on cooperation over migration, energy, security and economic growth — came at the end of a tough week for the White House.
The administration faces mounting criticism over its plans to end so-called Title 42 authority, a public health order that allows border agents to expel asylum seekers to Mexico. The policy was enacted during the Trump administration, which was eager to discourage asylum seekers but cited the need to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Biden administration says Title 42 was never intended to be a permanent policy and is being eased along with other pandemicrelated restrictions.
“The majority of the conversation was about migration and was about continued work on coordination, economic coordination, on taking steps to reduce migration to the border, and they have been a partner in that over the last several months,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing after the call.
López Obrador described the talk as “cordial” and said in a tweet afterward that he and Biden discussed “issues of interest in the bilateral relationship.”
Psaki said the tone of the call was “constructive” but declined to say whether Biden asked López Obrador to add Mexican troops at the border once Title 42 is lifted.
Earlier this week, a federal judge halted the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to suspend the order May 23, as a growing number of Democrats who are up for reelection have joined Republicans in criticizing the winding down of the policy.
Republicans grilled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas on Capitol Hill over a record number of border crossings that resulted in 210,000 arrests in March, the highest monthly total in two decades.
Biden has struggled to strike a balance on immigration, fulfilling campaign promises to his party’s progressive wing while appeasing the concerns of centrists about illegal border crossings. Republicans have been hammering Democrats on the issue ahead of November’s midterm elections.
After calls from some Democrats to produce a more detailed plan to replace Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday released a 20page memo laying out a sixpoint strategy that includes sending more personnel to the border, fast-tracking procedures for those who don’t qualify for asylum and expanding temporary detention facilities along the border.
Encouraging Mexico to cooperate in handling an increase in border crossings once Title 42 is lifted was to be a top agenda item in the president’s call with López Obrador, according to a senior Biden administration official.
“We really will need to rely on our partnership more than ever to have a coordinated response, to surge additional staff and resources on both sides of our border to make sure that we have an orderly and humane response,” said the official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity in advance of the conversation.
While grappling with Title 42, the White House has also sought to terminate a Trump-era policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” which requires asylum seekers, most from Central and South America, to stay in Mexico while their cases are being considered. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week on whether the administration can scrap the program.
The two leaders also discussed the Summit of the Americas, set for June in Los Angeles. The U.S. will host leaders from North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.
López Obrador said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would travel to Washington on Monday for discussions on “issues of cooperation for development and the Summit of the Americas.”
Asked whether Biden planned to visit the U.S. southern border ahead of the summit, Psaki said, “We’re certainly open to it.”
Biden and López Obrador last met in person in November around the announcement of the U.S.Mexico Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities. But tensions have since surfaced over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mexico has condemned the invasion, but López Obrador refused to join the U.S. and other countries in imposing economic sanctions on Russia for its continued assault.
The two have also clashed over Mexico’s planned energy reforms, in which López Obrador has sought to consolidate state control of his country’s electric power market, in a potential violation of the U.S.Mexico-Canada trade pact.
A senior U.S. official said the administration has concerns about the potential negative impact of Mexico’s energy reforms on U.S. private investment there and is working to resolve the disputes.