© Alex Wong/Getty ImagesRoberta Jacobson, former Mexico ambassador and Biden border czar, speaks at White House news conference.
President Biden's border czar is stepping down less than 100 days on the job as a humanitarian crisis among surging migrants deepens and criticism of the administration's stewardship grow.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced Friday afternoon Roberta Jacobson's planned departure at the end of April as the Coordinator for the Southwest Border at the National Security Council.Jacobson had previously served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico. And while Sullivan praised her "invaluable contribution,"
the sudden departure was a stark signal the administration recognizes it needs to pivot after weeks of a growing migrant crisis that has sullied Biden's efforts to project competence and confidence in the early days of his presidency.
"Consistent with her commitment at the outset to serve in the Administration's first 100 days, Ambassador Jacobson will retire from her role as Coordinator at the end of this month. She will do so having shaped our relationship with Mexico as an equal partner, having launched our renewed efforts with the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and having underscored this Administration's commitment to reenergizing the U.S. immigration system."
Jacobson's departure came less than two weeks after the president named Vice President Kamala Harris to take point on the border crisis, and Sullivan said
"the Vice President is overseeing a whole-of-government approach supported by outstanding public servants."
Comment: It seems the Biden administration is full of 'crisis deniers', while those with more objectivity
fearlessly state it as such:
Jacobson's retirement was announced less than a month after she admitted that the White House was sending "mixed messages" to migrants from Latin America, saying "it is difficult at times to convey both hope in the future and the danger that is now."
Biden administration reportedly is considering sending cash payments to Central Americans in a bid to prevent them from making the trek north and as Harris, tapped by Biden to to handle the crisis, still has yet to visit either the border or Central America. Although the White House has clarified that Harris is addressing the "root causes" of the migrant crisis, her office has disclosed few details about her efforts.
Last week, Harris spoke with Guatemala's president, but she has not spoken with the leaders of El Salvador or Honduras — which together with Guatemala form the so-called "Northern Triangle" from which many migrants travel. Harris spoke Wednesday with Mexico's president.
Meanwhile, migrant parents already in the United States say they are not being given regular — if any — updates about the location or well-being of their children in federal custody. And it's reportedly costing US taxpayers more than $60 million a week to care for 16,500 unaccompanied migrant teenagers and children now in federally run shelters.
Customs and Border Protection announced this week that the number of illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border has exploded — rising more than 71 percent since February.
Former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who also was acting intelligence director last year, tweeted, "Biden blames and fires a woman for his disastrous border policy."
"Roberta Jacobson, who admitted Biden's immigration policies 'may have driven people' to the border, is now stepping down as border czar. So who is in charge?" tweeted Chad Gilmartin, a communications aide to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). "VP Harris is absent from the border, while CBP data contradicts WH claims the surge is seasonal."
Earlier Friday, a California man whose brother was slain in 2018 by an illegal immigrant blasted Biden's immigration policy, saying, "We absolutely have a crisis."
"If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's not a cow, it's a duck," Jody Jones said on Fox & Friends. "So don't sit there and tell me there's not a crisis down at the border, because there is."
White House officials have repeatedly refused to call the situation 'a crisis'.
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