On Wednesday, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf will travel to Honduras for the 12^th Regional Security Conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The ministerial will bring together security officials from the U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama to discuss efforts to jointly address irregular migration, border security, and transnational criminal organizations in the region. As part of an ongoing emphasis on regional coordination, the officials will discuss ways they can continue to work together to target human smuggling and trafficking organizations operating in the region. The group will plan further progress on the agreements signed in 2019 and consider initiatives, with a focus on creating an environment that leads to greater opportunity and prosperity for people closer to home, instead of undertaking a long, dangerous, and expensive journey to the U.S.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf announced the release of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Notices of Funding Opportunity for eight DHS preparedness grant programs totaling nearly $1.8 billion. The grant programs provide funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as transportation authorities, nonprofit organizations and the private sector, to improve the nation’s readiness in preventing, protecting against, responding to, recovering from and mitigating terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies. The grants reflect the Department’s focus on funding for programs that address our nation’s immediate security needs and ensure public safety in our communities.