Pence meets CentralAmerica leaders about border crisis

GUATEMALA CITY » Vice President Mike Pence demanded more from Central American leaders on Thursday during ameeting about the growing number of migrants being detained at the U.S. border, a situation that has flared into a political and humanitarian crisis for the Trump administration.

Pence’s visit came at the conclusion of a swing through Latin America during which he has warned migrants not to risk their lives by trying to enter the United States illegally. He met Thursday evening with the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, the home countries of the majority of the migrants detained on the southwest U.S. border.

Speaking at a press conference following a roundtable meeting, Pence said, “I told the presidents I met here that this exodus has to end. It is a threat to the security of the United States, as we respect your sovereignty and your borders, we demand you respect ours.”

A technical error allowed journalists to listen in on part of the meeting where Pence called on the use of technology in border areas to track human traffickers. He asked Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to select a “stable” and “independent” attorney general and complained that the United States was “seeing real threats that we have to secure our borders from.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was heard saying, “We know that family separation is a difficult issue, but that would not be a problem if [migrants] seek asylum correctly.”