MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico announced Monday that several top U.S. advisers on border and immigration issues will meet with Mexican officials on Tuesday to discuss migration and development in Central America.
The talks come as a surge of migrants has hit the U.S. southern border. The trip to Mexico will include Roberta Jacobson, the White House’s lead adviser on the border, and Juan González, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere.
The White House said Jacobson, a former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, will go there Monday “to engage with Mexican government officials to develop an effective and humane plan of action to manage migration.”
Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, said the talks will focus on the two countries “joint efforts for secure, safe and regulated migration,” and plans to provide economic development in southern Mexico and Central America so people won’t come under pressure to migrate.
The White House said Gonzalez will then go on to Guatemala, to “meet with Guatemalan government officials, as well as representatives from civil society and non-government organizations to address root causes of migration in the region and build a more hopeful future in the region.”
Also among the U.S. officials is Ricardo Zúñiga, who was named Monday as Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — three of the countries sending the most migrants to the United States.
