DHS Secretary Nielsen to join roundtable, discuss border crisis

UPDATE

Secretary Nelsen said Thursday that this issue is now a security crisis that requires an emergency response.

She met with several yuma leaders at a round table at Yuma Sector Border Patrol Headquarters and later at the Yuma station.

Nielsen met with DHS leaders from U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as other leaders in Yuma County at Yuma Sector Border Patrol Headquarters.

During the closed-door meeting, Nielsen addressed the department’s efforts to bring federal government resources to the Yuma area.

She also reviewed the announcement earlier this week to reassign port of entry personnel.

Secretary Nielsen also spoke about the need for lasting solutions.

“We’ve been forced to urgently create temporary structures because of fire codes limitations and to be clear not about detention space which we are also out of but this area is to process the mass flow who have arrived into the U.S. so Congress must act this is entirely unprecedented and the humanitarian crisis will continue to get worse until they act. We cannot protect America’s poverty and enforce immigration laws or keep criminals for exploiting our laws without something changing,” Nielsen said.

Her next stop will be in Calexico as she will join President Trump’s visit of the new border wall that replaces the old Vietnam fence.

ORIGINAL STORY

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be meeting with local law enforcement agencies for a roundtable in Yuma Thursday to discuss the humanitarian and security crisis.

Watch the Livestream of the meeting below:

This story is developing and will be updated with any new details.