The meeting, which is set to take place virtually, is expected to focus on how the United States and Mexico can cooperate on economic and national security issues, as well as combatting the coronavirus pandemic.
López Obrador is reportedly expected to propose a new Bracero-style immigrant labor program to Biden, which could bring 600,000 to 800,000 Mexican and Central American immigrants a year to work legally in the United States.
A senior Biden administration official declined to say whether Biden would support or oppose that proposal, but revealed that both the U.S. and Mexico agree on the need to expand legal pathways for migration.
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The Biden administration official told the Associated Press that the meeting would enable Biden to begin to institutionalize the relationship with Mexico, differing from former President Trump, whose administration’s relationship with Mexico involved the threat of tariffs, a crackdown on migration and his efforts to construct a border wall along the U.S. southern border.
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Mexico hosted about 70,000 people seeking U.S. asylum while they waited for dates in immigration courts, a policy known as Remain in Mexico and officially as Migrant Protection Protocols.
Meanwhile, upon taking office, Biden immediately began to unwind Remain in Mexico, suspending it for new arrivals on Jan. 20, and announcing soon after that an estimated 26,000 people with active cases could be released in the United States.
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Biden, however, has kept pandemic-related restrictions in place to expel anyone arriving at the U.S. border from Mexico without an opportunity to seek asylum. Typically, Mexicans and many Central Americans are returned to Mexico in less than two hours under Title 42 authority. Biden aides have indicated they have no immediate plans to lift it.
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With regard to other immigration efforts, Biden, on his first day in office, announced an "immediate termination" of funding for the border wall and restored the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA allows people who came to the United States as children to request deferred immigration enforcement and work authorization for a renewal period of two years. The Trump administration had sought to end the program since September 2017, mounting a number of federal legal battles.
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Biden is additionally backing legislation that would give legal status and a pathway to citizenship to an estimated 11 million people currently in the United States.
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Biden, in his proclamation Wednesday, proclaimed that shutting the door on legal immigrants "does not advance the interests of the United States."
"To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here," he concluded. "It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world."
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