WASHINGTON – Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will visit Yuma on Thursday to meet with Department of Homeland Security leaders from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nielsen will host a roundtable meeting with members of local law enforcement agencies, government officials, and representatives from non-governmental organizations.
Yuma has been one of the areas hardest hit by the massive surge of illegal aliens crossing over the border from Central American countries. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), agents have apprehended nearly 1,000 mostly Central Americans, in the last three days.
Nielsen is expected to review the implementation of measures announced earlier this week, including moving port-of-entry personnel to support Border Patrol agents overwhelmed the needs of the illegal aliens who require attention.
On Friday April 5, she will join President Donald Trump in Calexico, California to visit the border wall, participate in a roundtable discussion on the emergency, and discuss the way forward.
#CBP #USBP #YumaSector Agents have apprehended nearly 1,000 people, most of which are Central Americans, in the last three days @CBP pic.twitter.com/pkxmioBgi0
— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) April 3, 2019
This week, Nielsen announced that DHS would be taking a full-fledged “disaster response” approach to the border emergency, including appointing a lead federal official for interagency action and utilizing FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center.
Secretary Nielsen has directed DHS agencies to surge resources and personnel from across the Department toward border security and migration management and has also put out a call for volunteers from non-border missions from both DHS component agencies and interagency partners.