WASHINGTON — President Joe 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 — comes 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 to curb the spread of COVID-19.
