What is Kamala Harris doing on her first foreign visit?
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On her first-ever international diplomatic trip as vice-president, Kamala Harris is taking on one of the nation's biggest issues: immigration.
Ms Harris will meet the president of Guatemala on Monday and Mexico's later this week.
Ms Harris has described her task as finding solutions to address the root causes of the border crisis. Her staff says this first visit is primarily an information-gathering trip.
She is also expected to meet with local business and community leaders as she looks to tackle underlying problems in the region, including corruption and the lack of economic opportunities.
Since she was assigned the job by President Joe Biden in March, the California Democrat has faced intense criticism from Republicans who have questioned why she is yet to visit the US' southern border.
Here are four key items on Ms Harris' agenda.
The border
More than 178,000 migrants arrived at the border this April, the highest one-month total in more than two decades, according to US border officials.
Of those migrants, more than 40% originated from the Central American region known as the Northern Triangle: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
This will be the main focus of Ms Harris' trip, when she meets with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Ahead of her conference with Mr Giammattei, Ms Harris told reporters that she believes "most people don't want to leave home" but do it in order to survive.
Ms Harris has already held closed briefings and roundtable discussions in the White House on these issues.
This week's trip will provide more details for the administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the root causes of migration, the vice-president's aides say.
"I'm there to listen as much as I am to share perspective," she said.
Corruption
A central issue contributing to the border crisis is the corruption of government officials in the region, who have been accused of aiding in drug and human trafficking.
Ms Harris is expected to discuss the situations in Guatemala and Mexico. But the vice-president has yet to speak to the leaders of Honduras and El Salvador.
The administration is also set to announce new measures to address corruption and human smuggling during this trip.
"We have the capacity to give people hope," Ms Harris said last month. "Part of giving people hope is having a very specific commitment to rooting out corruption in the region."
Mr Giammattei of Guatemala, who has faced criticism over corruption within his government, told CBS News over the weekend that Ms Harris "doesn't hold back, which is good. She is frank".
But some Guatemalans have questioned if a US-backed anti-corruption agenda would intrude upon their domestic sovereignty with other issues as well.
One protester on Monday, retired infantry Cpt Jorge Lemus, told Reuters he was against the US "wanting to impose its LGBT, pro-abortion policies".
Economic growth
Many migrants leaving the Northern Triangle say they are fleeing violence, discrimination and poverty.
The steady "brain drain" of locals has exacerbated problems caused by decades of political instability.
These countries have also stressed that they are feeling the most adverse effects of global warming - most notably hurricanes - despite hardly contributing to climate change.
On her trip, Ms Harris is set to discuss a new round of funding for the region, after the White House in April announced it would release $310m (£219m) to help with food shortages and disaster recovery.
Creating more stable conditions will involve not just government funding, but also partnering with the private sector and pushing for investment in these countries.
Ms Harris recently secured commitments from 12 US organisations to promote economic opportunity and job training in Central America. She is also scheduled to meet innovators, entrepreneurs and labour leaders in Guatemala and Mexico during this trip.
Vaccine sharing
Last week, the White House announced it would share 25m doses of Covid-19 vaccines with the rest of the world.
Of that, Guatemala is set to receive 500,000 and Mexico one million.
The region has been hard hit by the virus, further worsening living conditions. Mexico has the fourth highest number of deaths in the world - with the toll approaching 230,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The economies of all three countries in the Northern Triangle have also been severely damaged by Covid closures, the International Monetary Fund reported. Humanitarian advocates say the region has seen an increase in extreme poverty as a result.
This vaccine initiative appears to be one more part of the Biden-Harris administration's effort to foster teamwork more broadly on the issue of immigration.
