WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s top migration adviser on the National Security Council will leave the White House next week after playing a key role in the administration’s immigration strategy for three years, according to a spokesperson of the NSC.
Katie Tobin, who was senior director of cross-border security, is leaving her post at a time when border policy is at the forefront due to record levels of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
His departure, planned for several months, comes amid high-stakes negotiations between the White House and senators over changes to asylum laws.
Tobin was part of the high-level delegation that I traveled to Mexico last month meet with their counterparts to deal with this increase. The Biden administration is relying on the country to sidewalk migrant crossings, which led to a temporary drop in the number of migrants.
“Katie is leaving after three years of tenacious and dedicated work on the migration issue,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement to NBC News. “We will miss Katie’s positivity and thoughtful contributions on an incredibly complex portfolio, but we wish her well.”
During his time at the White House, Tobin was instrumental in planning the end of title 42the Trump-era public health order that was used to turn away migrants at the height of the pandemic.
She also led one of the president’s signature migration initiatives, known as the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. More than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere signed the declaration, which attempts to address various challenges related to global migration patterns.
Tobin previously worked as an asylum and refugee law expert for the United Nations Refugee Agency.
“Katie is a generative strategist and policy maker, a highly effective diplomat and advocate for the humane treatment of migrants. She has led the development of a new hemispheric system of shared responsibility, including the expansion of legal pathways and mechanisms enforcement,” White House Homeland Security said. said Councilor Liz Sherwood-Randall.
It is unclear who will replace Tobin, according to an NSC spokesperson. She was initially scheduled to leave last summer, but the White House persuaded her to stay, given increased attention to migration and diplomatic work with Mexico, the official said.
