Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly will travel on Wednesday to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as they look to ease tensions with the United States’ southern neighbor and discuss the Trump administration’s impending crackdown on illegal immigration.
The two members of President Trump’s Cabinet are slated to arrive in Mexico City in the early afternoon for discussions with Peña Nieto and several Mexican military and government officials.
The trip is widely seen as an opportunity for the administration to improve its working relationship with Mexico after Trump and Peña Nieto called off a meeting last month following repeated clashes over Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, White House press secretary Sean Spicer declined to characterize the trip as a “clean-up job” during Wednesday’s daily briefing.
“I think the relationship with Mexico is phenomenal right now,” Spicer told reporters.
Tillerson and Kelly, both of whom are said to be working with the administration to write a revised executive order on immigration, will spend time with Mexican ministers of Foreign Relations, Finance and National Defense, in addition to their sit-down with Peña Nieto.
The trip marks the first time senior administration officials will meet with their Mexican counterparts since Trump and Peña Nieto called off their own meeting in January.
