WASHINGTON 鈥� As President Joe Biden looks to dismantle the last administration鈥檚 hardline immigration agenda, he worked Monday to build a partnership with someone who found an unexpected understanding with Donald Trump: Mexican President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador.
Biden and L贸pez Obrador met for a virtual bilateral meeting, with immigration, the coronavirus pandemic and climate issues on the agenda. Looming large was how the two leaders would get along in what has become an increasingly complicated relationship.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 been perfect
L贸pez Obrador, for his part, told Biden that he was thankful that the new president was 鈥渨illing to maintain good relations for the good of our people in North America.鈥�
The Mexican president also gave a wink to a rueful observation attributed to Jos茅 de la Cruz Porfirio D铆az Mori, the Mexican general who served seven terms as the country鈥檚 president, about the two countries鈥� relationship: 鈥淧oor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the U.S.鈥�
鈥淚 can now say 鈥業t鈥檚 wonderful for Mexico to be close to God and not so far from the United States鈥欌�� L贸pez Obrador said.
Lopez Obrador came to the meeting with his own checklist of priorities, including pressing Biden to give pharmaceutical company Pfizer permission to sell his country vaccine produced in the United States, something that Canada has also requested from the White House.
鈥淲e want to have an answer about a request we made,鈥� Lopez Obrador told reporters at his daily news conference, hours before speaking with Biden.
Ahead of the meeting, White House officials reiterated that Biden remained focused on first vaccinating U.S. citizens before turning his attention to assisting other nations. Biden, in a brief exchange with reporters at the start of the meeting, said the two leaders would discuss vaccines.
The two sides following the meeting issued a joint statement pledging greater
Relations with Biden will be much more complex and multi-faceted than they were with Trump.
As a candidate, Trump referred to Mexicans as rapists. The Republican's signature campaign promise was building a 鈥渂ig, beautiful wall鈥� across the length of the southern border. And leaked conversations showed Trump hectoring L贸pez Obrador's predecessor, Enrique Pe帽a Nieto, against publicly saying that Mexico would never pay for a southern border wall.
But L贸pez Obrador appeared to reach a one-issue understanding with Trump: Mexico stopped the flow of Central American migrants trying to reach the U.S. border, and Trump often appeared to turn a blind eye to just about every other facet in the complicated relationship.
There was no shortage of issues that Trump largely overlooked or played down in exchange for Mexico slowing the flow of undocumented immigrants from the border.
L贸pez Obrador, who took office in 2018, accused U.S. officials of fabricating drug trafficking charges against the country鈥檚 former
Under his watch, L贸pez Obrador has attempted to consolidate the position of Mexico鈥檚 national oil company and national electric utility, and prioritized fossil fuel companies amid a global push to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Early in his term, the Mexican president pursued a counter-narcotics strategy that largely ended the pursuit of high-profile arrests and focused more on poverty alleviation.
Still, Trump heaped praise on L贸pez Obrador, calling him a 鈥渇riend鈥� and 鈥済reat president鈥� in one of his final presidential speeches, an address from the border to celebrate progress made on building the wall.
The effort to reset the U.S.-Mexico relationship under Biden comes as a flood of migrants have rushed to the border since his victory in November.
Biden has backed a bill to give legal status and a path to citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Biden also broke with Trump by supporting efforts to allow hundreds of thousands of people who came to the U.S. illegally as young children to remain in the country.
Border Patrol agents are apprehending an average of more than 200 children crossing the border without a parent per day, but nearly all 7,100 beds for immigrant children maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services are full.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday sought to push back against the notion that the situation at the border was spinning out of control.
鈥淭he men and women of the Department of Homeland Security are working around the clock seven days a week to ensure that we do not have a crisis at the border, that we manage the challenge as acute as the challenge is, and they are not doing that alone,鈥� Mayorkas said.
Ahead of the meeting, L贸pez Obrador also floated a proposal for a Bracero-style immigrant work visa program for 600,000 to 800,000 Mexican and Central American workers annually.
Asked about the Mexican president鈥檚 proposal, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that reinstituting the Bracero program would require action by Congress.
The original Bracero program allowed Mexicans to work temporarily in the United States to fill
On Monday, L贸pez Obrador added that his new proposal would be a program not only for agriculture workers but for other sectors and professionals.
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Stevenson reported from Mexico City and Madhani from Chicago. Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat and Josh Boak contributed reporting.
Mark Stevenson, Zeke Miller And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press
