WASHINGTON – US Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano and White House Homeland Security Council director John Brennan will travel to the southern border with Mexico on Wednesday, the White House has said.
President Barack Obama has asked Napolitano and Brennan "to make a series of visits to border communities to meet with local officials and residents in the continuing effort to enhance border security in cooperation with Mexico and state and local law enforcement," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Obama is set to make his first visit as president to Mexico during a Latin American tour beginning April 16 that will also take him to Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas.
Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder visited Mexico last week as part of discussions on cross-border cooperation on organized crime. Napolitano also visited neighborhoods along the border.
The US government announced last month that it was sending more anti-drug agents to the southwestern United States, cracking down on money laundering, adding more intelligence efforts to disrupt Mexican drug cartel operatives and sending new high-tech equipment to search for illegal drugs.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also visited Mexico on March 25-26.
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