By Jarrett Renshaw

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday as the White House faces criticism over its plan to lift COVID-era immigration restrictions at the U.S. border.

Just a few days ago, a federal judge ordered Homeland Security to stop trying to lift Title 42, which is a COVID-era order that permits the expulsion of migrants in an effort to stem the spread of the disease.

According to the White House, they will discuss “cooperation on migration, joint efforts in Central America development, competitiveness, economic growth, security and energy.”

These two leaders will talk also about the Summit of the Americas which the United States is hosting in Los Angeles, California in June. This summit brings together leaders of North, South, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The announcement of the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities in October made significant progress for security cooperation between the two countries, however, there are still hurdles to overcome on matters like energy and immigration.

Title 42 was to be repealed by the administration on May 23, but Republicans are focusing on its repeal in order to target Democrats regarding immigration before the midterm elections.

Biden is a Democrat and has had difficulty implementing what he calls a more humane system at the U.S. Mexico border. This was amid records numbers of illegal migrants crossing, adverse court rulings and opposition from Republicans as well as members his party.

In March 2018, the United States border police arrested 210,000 immigrants who tried to cross the border into Mexico. This is the most arrests in a single month in over 20 years.

The total March number is 24% higher than the previous month, which saw 169,000 migrants being picked up at border. This was the beginning of an increase in migration, leaving thousands of unaccompanied children stranded in border stations for many days as they wait to be placed in government shelters.