White House ‘border czar’ Roberta Jacobson RESIGNS as Biden struggles to stem historic migrant surge
WHITE House border coordinator Roberta Jacobson is stepping down from her role by the end of April, the White House said on Friday - as the Biden administration struggles with the historic migrant crisis.
Jacobson served as President Joe Biden’s Coordinator for the Southwest Border at the National Security Council.
Last week, Customs and Border Protection that over 170,000 migrants came to the border in March, up around 70% from February.
Those migrants include 18,890 unaccompanied minors who came from Central America at the Southwest border, 100% more than in February, according to the report.
This figure is also five times more than in February 2020 under former President Donald Trump.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a White House statement on Friday that Jacobson’s resignation is “consistent with her commitment at the outset to serve in the administration’s first 100 days.”
The White House statement didn’t mention who will replace Jacobson but Vice President Kamala Harris is set to lead U.S. diplomatic efforts in Central America with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The White House clarified that Harris’s main task is the diplomatic efforts in the region, but border security is the responsibility of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to Reuters.
The U.S. is considering a conditional cash transfer program for the Northern Triangle to help resolve economic struggles, on Friday.
Biden has been slammed over his handling of the US-Mexico border, with one sheriff accusing the president of exposing the country to national security threats and rampant sex trafficking.
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"Sheriffs across this country are mobilizing," Hodgson told the network. "We have really made this point several times and President Biden knows it - that open borders don't work."
Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson, of Bristol County, Massachusetts, made the comments during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Thursday, after he and 275 other sheriffs across 39 states penned a letter to Biden urging him to .