U.S. to reverse 'draconian' immigration policies

President Joe Biden told the Mexican president that the U.S. plans to reverse the Trump administration's "draconian" immigration approach while working on policies addressing the causes of migration, according to the White House.

In a Friday call with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Biden outlined his plan to create new legal pathways for immigration and improve the process for people requesting asylum.

The White House release also said the two leaders agreed to work together towards reducing "irregular migration.”

In a Twitter post, Lopez Obrador called the call “pleasant and respectful”.

The call comes two days after Biden signed half a dozen executive orders to reverse several hardline immigration policies put in place by former President Trump, including immediately lifting a travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries, and halting construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Over in Sunland Park, New Mexico, construction sites of the border wall appeared abandoned after Biden signed the executive order.

On Thursday Lopez Obrador praised Biden for halting construction.

"If President Biden says that a wall is no longer being built, that's what he means. In four years, zero.”

Biden has also made an early push for a bill that would open a path for citizenship for the roughly 11 million people living in the United States illegally, though even his allies in Congress acknowledge that may be "a Herculean task."