Vice President Vance is scheduled to travel next week to the U.S.-Mexico border, becoming the highest ranking administration to do so amid the Trump White House’s efforts to crack down on immigration.
Vance will make the trip on Wednesday, a day after President Trump gives a joint address to Congress, a spokesperson for the vice president confirmed to The Hill. Trump is expected to discuss at length his administration’s initiatives to curb the flow of migrants into the U.S.
Trump campaigned on drastically reducing the number of immigrants entering the country and on deporting millions of people in the U.S. who entered illegally, and he has taken a number of actions in his first month in office to make good on that promise.
Trump signed orders to pause the U.S. refugee program, to increase military presence at the border and to shut down the CBP One App, which was used for migrants without visas who sought to enter at legal points of entry. He also signed an order seeking to end birthright citizenship, though it has been halted by the courts.
The Trump administration has given more latitude to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in conducting raids to remove immigrants who did not enter the U.S. legally.
