The White House is considering adding a stop at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Joe Biden‘s trip to Mexico City next week for meetings with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Justin Trudeau, according to a report.
Biden will be in Mexico City from Jan. 9-10 for the North American Leaders’ Summit, known diplomatically as the “Three Amigos” meetings. A final decision regarding what could be Biden’s first trip to the border as president is still to be made, and if it is added to his schedule, it would not include a policy announcement, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Biden’s potential trip to the border coincides with a Republican pressure campaign concerning immigration as thousands of immigrants anticipate the Supreme Court rescinding Title 42. The federal authority, invoked by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, has been used to expel 2 million immigrants expeditiously, even before they have applied for asylum, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court issued an order last month that the authority should remain in place until it hears arguments from a group of conservative states that contend it should be retained to avoid a migrant surge.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was grilled on the border during her Tuesday briefing, describing immigration as “one of the key issues facing our hemisphere” and a likely agenda item during next week’s meetings.
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“The president is looking forward to meeting with Mexico and Canada to continue coordinating a regional response, which you have seen over the past several months, to irregular migration in the region, including through the continued implementation of the principles outlined in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection,” she said.
