Readout of the Vice President’s Meetings on Unaccompanied Minors and Immigration Reform

Today, the Vice President met with faith leaders and refugee advocates for a roundtable discussion on the influx of unaccompanied minors migrating to the southwest border of the United States.  The Vice President also met with members of the “Bibles, Badges and Business” coalition for a roundtable discussion on commonsense immigration reform.

In his meeting with faith leaders and refugee advocates, the Vice President updated the group on the Administration’s efforts to address the urgent humanitarian situation caused by the influx of unaccompanied children and adults migrating to the United States, primarily from Central America.  The Vice President also reported the outcomes of his June 20 meeting in Guatemala with the presidents of Guatemala and El Salvador and representatives from the governments of Honduras and Mexico.  Those outcomes included a shared commitment to inform constituents of the dangers of putting children in the hands of criminal smugglers, to combat misinformation spread by criminal networks attempting to smuggle minors, and to address underlying causes of migration including insecurity and lack of economic opportunity.

The Vice President then met with members of “Bibles, Badges, and Business”—a national network of faith, law enforcement, and business leaders, that today included representatives from the agricultural industry, among others.  The Vice President thanked them for their leadership and tireless efforts working in their communities for immigration reform and encouraged them to continue to keep standing up for a commonsense solution.