US Homeland Security Chief Heads to Southern Border on Wednesday to Assess Crisis
US Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will visit the border city of El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday to assess the crisis in the region due to the overflow of illegal migrants straining federal resources, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release
"The Secretary will meet with frontline operators to assess the crisis, the Department's response, and efforts to surge federal government resources to the area to restore order," the release said. "On Wednesday, April 3, the Secretary will travel to El Paso, Texas, where she will visit the El Paso Del Norte Port of Entry and the El Paso Border Patrol Station, as well as receive a briefing at the El Paso Station's Satellite Processing Facility."
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in El Paso is currently over capacity by 280 percent with more than 3,400 migrants in their custody, the release said.
Nielsen will travel to Yuma, Arizona on Thursday and then to Calexico, California on Friday to join US President Donald Trump on a visit to the border wall in the area and to participate in a roundtable discussion about the situation on the border, the release said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump again threatened to close the southern border with Mexico if the US Congress did not act together to eliminate loopholes in the US immigration system.
On Monday, Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said the Mexican government does not plan to adopt a special plan to restrain caravans of migrants from Central America that travel through the country to the United States. She added that the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador does not intend to militarize the country's southern border in an attempt to deter Central American migrants.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Mexico, only in February, more than 76,000 migrants, who crossed Mexico and tried to get into the United States were detained, and in March this figure is expected to amount to 100,000 people.