U.S. to provide $200 million in aid to Mexico and Central America, says Blinken

The United States will provide almost $200 million in additional humanitarian aid to Mexico and Central America through international organizations and non-government partners, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

"Our assistance will support the humanitarian and protection needs of refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, and vulnerable migrants in Mexico and Central America," Blinken said in a statement.

Washington has provided more than $594 million to the region since the fiscal year 2018, Blinken added in hopes that additional aid can help provide relief to the ongoing border crisis.

Blinken’s announcement comes as an unprecedented number of migrants attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Border agents have encountered a total of 2,150,639 undocumented migrants this year, surpassing the 2 million mark for the first time in U.S. history, according to Department of Homeland Security data released this week.

As the number of encounters at the border increases, U.S. officials have been urging Mexico to take more asylum seekers from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua in order to reduce stress from the saturated immigration process in the U.S.

Mexico, however, did not promise any actions, two U.S. and two Mexican officials told Reuters. One of the U.S. sources told the news outlet that trying to convince Mexico to agree was “an uphill battle.”