Roberta Jacobson heads to Mexico and Guatemala as US aims to stop migrants headed north
Roberta Jacobson, Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Southwest Border, will travel to Mexico on March 22 to meet with Mexican officials alongside Juan Gonzalez, the Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere, the US government announced on Monday.
In a statement on Monday, the National Security Council said that Jacobson will work with Mexican officials to develop an effective and humane plan of action to manage migration.
Following the meeting in Mexico, Gonzalez - who also serves as Special Assistant to the President - will head to Guatemala, where he will meet with Guatemalan government officials and representatives of civil society and non-government organizations "to address root causes of migration in the region".
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Jacobson, a career diplomat, previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs between 2012 and 2016. Additionally, between 2016 and 2018 she served as US Ambassador to Mexico City.
Both officials will be joined by Ricardo Zuniga, the Department of State's Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle.
"Part of our objective...was that we need to work and partner with these countries to address the root causes, to convey clearly and systematically that this is not the time to travel," she said.
Additionally, Psaki revealed for the first time that the US government - through the State Department - has heavily invested in media outreach to send a message to potential migrants.
Since January 21 more than 17,000 radio ads have been placed in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in Spanish, Portuguese and six indigenous languages.
"These ads have played on 33 radio stations, reaching an estimated 15 million individuals. The department has also worked with Facebook and Instagram on an advertising campaign that put our migration messages in the streams of millions of individuals who fit the profile of intending migrants," she added.
"We're also taking creative approaches in different countries to make sure we're reaching people and meeting people where they are," Psaki added.
In El Salvador, the US government has partnered with local media on a comic book and animated show that seeks to deter irregular migration, with Psaki said has reached 240,000 young Salvadorans. More than 3.6 million people have seen two animated episodes so far this year.
"Our embassies on the ground are working with countries...to figure out how to communicate clearly in languages that will be received by the people in these countries and communicate clearly that now is not the time to come and our borders are not open," she said. "We will continue to pick this up in the weeks and months ahead."
Psaki, however, added that is difficult for the government to determine how effective these ad campaigns have been.
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"It's difficult to note the people that did not come. That's never a number we will have a mark on," she said. "It's not the only step we're taking."
Calls have been mounting for the Biden administration to refer to the situation at the Mexican border as a "crisis". On Monday, Psaki declined to comment on when President Joe Biden will visit the border.
"The President is briefed regularly on the situation at the border," she said.