Nielsen exits international meetings early to oversee response to border crossings: report

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reportedly will not meet with her peers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations in Europe later this week and is instead flying back to the U.S. early to address the surge of crossings at the border with Mexico.

CNN reported Tuesday that a source familiar with Nielsen’s plans says she departed for the U.S. ahead of previously planned meetings on Wednesday with Sweden’s prime minister and later in the week with other officials.

{mosads}A spokesman with the Homeland Security Department confirmed that Nielsen would be returning to the U.S. to oversee the implementation of new enforcement measures at the border and told The Hill that acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Claire Grady would take over the secretary’s duties at the G-7 meeting.

The increased amount of crossings has led to threats from President Trump, who claims that he will shut down the border if Mexico’s government does not take stronger action to prevent the arrivals of migrant caravans in the U.S.

“If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug [sic] our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets on Friday.

“This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and ‘talk,’ ” he added at the time.

Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said last week that illegal border crossings had reached a “breaking point.”

“For the first time in over a decade, CBP is performing direct releases of migrants when [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is unable to provide bed space to relieve overcrowding,” Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said.

“We are doing everything we can to simply avoid a tragedy in a CBP facility,” he added. “But with these numbers, with the types of illnesses we’re seeing at the border, I fear that it’s just a matter of time.”