Biden to hold virtual bilateral meeting with Mexican president

President Biden will hold a virtual bilateral meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the White House announced Friday. 

“In this virtual event, the two leaders will discuss cooperation on migration, joint development efforts in Southern Mexico and Central America, COVID-19 recovery, and economic cooperation,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. 

The meeting Monday will be the second bilateral Biden has held with a world leader. The president held a similar virtual meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week.

The meeting with López Obrador comes as Biden is in the early stages of pushing his immigration plan through Congress. The proposal seeks to deliver on a list of Biden’s campaign promises, including providing a path to citizenship for the young people brought to the U.S by their parents as children, allowing immigrant farmworkers and those with Temporary Protected Status to swiftly obtain green cards, and allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for green cards after five years.

However, the legislation has garnered staunch opposition from Republicans, underscoring the historical difficulty Congress has had in trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Mexico and the U.S. had a contentious relationship during the Trump administration.

Former President Trump launched a trade war with Mexico that was only resolved upon the creation of a new pact between Washington, Mexico City and Ottawa, and the White House looked to implement stringent immigration policies that put more onus on Mexico to deal with immigrants and asylum seekers at the border.