Pence, Nielsen to meet with C. American leaders on immigration

WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen plan to meet with Central American leaders in Guatemala on Thursday to discuss the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, an aide to the vice president said.

The U.S. initiated the meeting with the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the official said. The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended far more citizens of those three countries than any others illegally crossing the border last year.

The Trump administration stirred an international furor by ordering children to be separated from their parents when caught illegally crossing the border. It reversed course last week when Trump issued an order to halt the practice. The president nonetheless has promised to press forward with tougher border enforcement and maintain a “zero tolerance” policy, prosecuting everyone apprehended illegally crossing the U.S. border with Mexico.

Trump administration officials concluded the vice president should confer with regional leaders on immigration because of the controversy over U.S. enforcement, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing an event ahead of its official announcement. Pence is currently on a previously planned trip through Latin America.

The Border Patrol apprehended about 70,000 families and nearly 48,000 unaccompanied children from the three countries after they crossed the Mexican border into the U.S. in the 2017 federal fiscal year. By comparison, the patrol apprehended about 3,500 families and 12,000 unaccompanied children from Mexico.

On Tuesday, Pence, who was in Sao Paulo, thanked Brazil for welcoming Venezuelans fleeing their country's collapse, while warning Central Americans running from violence in their homelands not to attempt to enter the United States illegally.

Pence announced the United States will provide nearly $10 million more to support Venezuelan migrants, including $1.2 million that will go to Brazil, but he urged Central Americans to “build your lives in your homeland.”

The seemingly contradictory messages underscored the delicate dance the United States is trying to perform: It wants to punish and isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government while mitigating the effects on the Venezuelan people. At the same time, it wants to stem the flow of migrants illegally crossing its own borders.