Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday she is planning to visit Mexico and Guatemala soon and that the United States must figure out how to bring about economic development in the Northern Triangle countries to curb immigration.

In March, President Joe Biden gave her the job of leading U.S. efforts with Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle countries – Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala – to stop the flow of migrants into the United States.

“Our focus is to deal with the root causes and I am looking forward to traveling, hopefully as my first trip, to the Northern Triangle, stopping in Mexico and then going to Guatemala,” she said.

“We have plans in the works to go to Guatemala, as soon as possible,” Harris told reporters during a virtual roundtable with experts who offered recommendations on the region.

Other participants in the meeting included Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, national security adviser to the vice president, Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, and Lisa Haugaard, co-director of the Latin America Working Group.