President Biden will attend the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico next month and meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the White House announced Tuesday.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the leaders will discuss economic stability, security and immigration during the Jan. 9-10 confab in Mexico City.
“We intend to build on the progress from the last [summit], with concrete initiatives that will address climate and environmental challenges, help increase North America’s competitiveness, protect the health and safety of our citizens, jointly respond, of course, to irregular migration in the region and advance diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said.
Last year’s summit, which took place in Washington, culminated in a joint statement by the three leaders pledging collaboration on migration, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The White House announced the summit amid growing suspense along the U.S.-Mexico border over the future of pandemic-era restrictions on asylum seekers set to expire Wednesday.
Public officials in U.S. border states have warned that crisis-level immigration under the Biden administration will spiral further out of control unless the Title 42 public health order letting officials expel certain asylum seekers remains in place.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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