Blinken says border crisis 'beyond anything seen before' at Summit of the Americas

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the immigration challenges the nation is currently facing at the border are “beyond anything that anyone has seen before.”

"We're dealing with a challenge that, for a whole variety of reasons, is beyond anything that anyone has seen before, which is exactly why the approach that we're taking, including here at the summit, is so important," Blinken told Juan Carlos Lopez during an interview with CNN at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles

"And that is an approach of shared responsibility where everyone in the hemisphere who is affected by irregular migration in particular, migration more generally, that is countries of origin, transit countries, countries of destination, come together to take shared responsibility for managing this in a safe, humane and orderly way," he added.

The Summit of the Americas is taking place this week in Los Angeles to discuss issues ranging from migration to democratization.

"The United States will work with the region's stakeholders toward securing leader-level commitments and concrete actions that dramatically improve pandemic response and resilience, promote a green and equitable recovery, build strong and inclusive democracies, and address the root causes of irregular migration," the State Department says.

Blinken added that the U.S. is working with several countries at the summit to try to address the border crisis. The U.S. and the other nations present at the meeting this week are expected to sign a new migration document titled the Los Angeles Declaration, which seeks to address how countries in the region should share the responsibility of taking in migrants.

However, several leaders of nations closely tied to the migration crisis were not present at the summit, including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador—some of the most prominent migrant groups in the United States.