© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Members of Mexico’s National Guard patrol the border between Mexico and the U.S. as part of an ongoing operation to prevent migrants from crossing illegally into the United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonz
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – U.S. and Mexican immigration officials are set to meet in El Paso Saturday, the day before U.S. President Joe Biden’s first visit to the border since taking office, Mexico’s immigration institute said Friday. The meeting between Mexican immigration head Francisco Garduno and Border Patrol officials in the Texas border city will aim “to coordinate actions to prevent migrants from being exposed to risks,” the institute said in a statement. Biden’s visit to El Paso on Sunday comes ahead of his meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau next week in Mexico, where immigration will be on the agenda.
Mexico’s immigration institute said a cold front is expected to cause temperatures to drop in the area along the border and 200 Mexican immigration agents were deployed to provide humanitarian aid such as shelters, blankets and hot drinks. On Thursday, the United States announced it would expand restrictions to rapidly expel Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian migrants caught illegally crossing the border.