(CNSNews.com) - As illegal immigration overwhelms the Southwest border, "we will be opening new paths for legal entry into the United States," Roberta Jacobson, President Biden's coordinator for the southern border, said on Wednesday.
She also told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell she thinks Biden's "don't come" message to undocumented people will "get widely distributed."
Mitchell asked Jacobson how Biden's "don't come" message will reach "desperate families in the Northern Triangle who are waiting at the Mexican border?"
“Well, I think people do pick up the president's message all over,” Jacobson replied.
But, moreover, that's why we have embassies and consulates, and we work with civil society groups, the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, and other groups to repeat the president's message that people should not come in this fashion, that we will be opening new paths for legal entry into the United States, but that we are enforcing our laws.
And so I think the message -- the president's message will get widely distributed. But, as I have said before, the smugglers are very agile, and their message gets through quickly.
Unchecked illegal immigration works to the advantage of the smugglers who encourage it, because it diverts Border Patrol resources away from the smugglers.
Jacobson said "hardship" and "desperation" in Central America are prompting people to make the difficult journey to the United States, and she said that creates an "urgency to ensure that we open up legal paths for people."
"It is reflective of crises that are compounded by climate change, two hurricanes in 15 days, violence, et cetera. So, we know that there are people in very dire straits, which is why we feel enormous urgency, urgency to get very quick-disbursing humanitarian assistance there faster, so that people can stay home, and urgency to ensure that we open up legal paths for people, so they don't have to undertake these journeys."
The goal is to allow people to apply for asylum in their home countries, but that will take time, and it’s unlikely to stanch the flood at the Southwest border.
Meanwhile, Jacobson on Wednesday did nothing to discourage children from coming here.
Speaking about the thousands of children being moved to places like the Dallas convention center, she said, "we will continue to ensure that we expand options for these children to meet the need.”
She noted that Border Patrol stations are no place for children: "And that's why we're expanding the number of beds and also accelerating the process to get children through HHS and to families and sponsors, so that we can shorten the amount of time kids are in either CBP or HHS custody and on to families, and ensuring that we have appropriate places that protect and safeguard children.
"I think all of us agree that children need to be handled in a humane and safe way. The pandemic obviously complicates that."
Jacobson noted that FEMA is working to find "more options" for shelter: "They're moving very, very quickly, so that we can ensure the children are in appropriate care.
“But it isn't just a building. It is staff to handle them. And I think that it is important that we make sure the background checks are conducted on staff, that we do everything we can to ensure they are in a safe place and that we don't put children at risk.
“And we are moving kids as quickly as we possibly can.”
(So the message is, if children – including teenagers age 17 and maybe older -- reach the U.S., they'll be housed, clothed, fed, treated "humanely," and moved quickly to the homes of relatives or sponsors.)