Mexican President backs Biden's agenda

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IANS | 22 Jan, 2021
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has expressed his support for his new American counterpart President Joe Biden's proposed agenda for fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, spurring the economy and dealing with immigration.

Just a day after Biden's inauguration on Wednesday, Lopez Obrador described relations with the new US administration as "very good", reports Xinhua news agency.

He added he agreed with Biden's focus on controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus as a way to get the economy back on track.

"It is not the economic crisis only. What is causing the most damage is the Covid-19 pandemic," Lopez Obrador said during his daily press conference on Thursday.

Referring to the $1.9 trillion in fiscal stimulus the Biden administration intends to inject into the US economy, Lopez Obrador said that was "also important".

On immigration, Lopez Obrador said Biden's strategy of regularising the immigration status of foreign migrants residing in the US would satisfy the needs of Mexicans.

"That is very good. We have nothing to object to, on the contrary, we agree that this must be done," the Mexican President added.

Some 38 million Mexicans are estimated to be living in the US.

Following his inauguration earlier on Wednesday, Biden signed 17 executive orders.

The first order Biden signed was for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. It mandated the wearing of masks and observance of social distancing on federal government politics and on planes, trains and buses travelling between states.

Taking up immigration issues, Biden gave protection and work permits to those who came in as children and are in the country illegally. It would not help those who came in legally and stayed legal like the children of those on H1-B visas who can be deported when they become adults.

He issued another order ending the construction of the wall on the Mexican border that Trump had ordered to deter illegal immigration.

He was also sending to Congress an immigration bill that would give legal status to about 11 million people who are in the country legally and eventually citizenship.