Biden officials to travel to Mexico to discuss border surge

Two Biden administration officials on Monday will travel to meet with their Mexican counterparts and discuss the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, where federal agents have apprehended thousands of migrants in recent weeks in a rapidly escalating situation.

Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson, who serves as President Biden’s coordinator for the southwest border, will meet with the Mexican foreign secretary and other government leaders “to develop an effective and humane plan of action to manage migration.”

Jacobson will be joined by Juan Gonzalez, the senior director for the Western Hemisphere within the National Security Council. Gonzalez will continue on to Guatemala after Monday’s talks to meet with officials there about short-term and long-term solutions to address root causes of migration to the U.S. from the Central American nation.

A Mexican official, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, tweeted late Sunday about the visit from Jacobson and Gonzalez, writing that the main topic of discussion will be joint efforts for development in Central America and for orderly and regular migration.

One senior Biden administration official said Jacobson has spoken with her counterparts in Mexico more than any other country, and the two sides “have a clear-eyed, shared view about” the issues at the border.

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

The Biden administration has struggled to contain the mounting crisis at the southern border in its first weeks in office. Authorities have apprehended tens of thousands of migrants in recent weeks, many of them unaccompanied minors.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers last week the U.S. is “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years.”

The volume of young migrants has further exacerbated the problem as the government struggles to find adequate housing for them while they are processed and wait for sponsors. A group of senators toured the facilities with Mayorkas last week and called the conditions inappropriate for children, many of whom are being held for days.

The president told reporters on Sunday he will eventually visit the border himself, but did not offer a timetable.