White House officials to go to Mexico to address border crisis [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• US ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson and National Security Council senior director Juan Gonzales will go to Mexico on Monday and meet with their counterparts.
• They will discuss the crisis about the surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border.
• President Joe Biden hinted that he would soon visit the border.

Two White House aides will travel to the US-Mexico border on Monday to align with Mexican officials and address the current situation. Federal authorities have been struggling with managing thousands of migrants coming in recently to cross to the US.

President Joe Biden’s ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, who also serves as the coordinator for the southwest border, is set to meet with the foreign secretary of Mexico alongside several government officials “to develop an effective and humane plan of action to manage migration.”

Along with Jacobson, the National Security Council senior director of the Western Hemisphere, Juan Gonzales, will also join the discussion. Gonzalez will proceed to Guatemala after Monday’s meeting to also participate in other talks addressing the issues on migration.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, top Mexican official Roberto Velasco Álvarez hinted that the scheduled talks will revolve around redeveloping Central America and a systematic and organized migration program.

Jacobson was in touch with her Mexican counterparts, per a White House senior aide. Both sides made a shared view and clear vision to address the ongoing border crisis.

“Rebuilding our broken system will take time and it will take the whole-of-government effort President Biden has directed. No one should make the dangerous trip to try and enter the United States in a dangerous fashion. The border is not open,” one senior official said.

Biden said on Sunday that he would pay a visit at the border some other time, not giving a definite schedule.

In recent weeks, US federal officials apprehended thousands of migrants, largely composed of unaccompanied minors. The new administration faced criticisms due to the surge of people at the border.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told legislators that the nation was “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”

Source: The Hill