President Joe Biden will send senior administration officials down to Mexico in search of assistance as illegal immigrants surge across the southern border at the highest rates ever seen this month, the Biden administration's first acknowledgment of the severity of the situation.

"I spoke with President López Obrador of Mexico regarding efforts to manage migration in the Western Hemisphere," Biden wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, Thursday evening. "More enforcement actions are urgently needed to reopen key ports of entry across our shared border. Our teams will convene in the coming days to further actions."

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Biden's announcement followed pleas from House Republicans, including one from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Thursday, demanding that the White House act to end the "catastrophe."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and White House homeland security advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall will visit Mexico "in the coming days" to meet with Mexican counterparts and push them for greater action, according to the White House.

Migrants who travel to the southern border must pass through Mexico. The number of immigrants encountered by federal agency U.S. Customs and Border Protection has soared this week and set a new record after topping 14,500 immigrants Monday — one sign that Mexico has not taken serious effort to prevent immigrants from reaching the United States.

U.S. and Mexican officials have blamed a shortage in funding at the end of the year at Mexico's immigration enforcement agency, the Instituto Nacional de Migracion, for its taking less action to stop immigrants.

The number of migrants illegally crossing the border and attempting to come across at ports of entry despite not having documents for admission has climbed for weeks and prompted CBP to shut down two railroad crossings in Texas border towns Eagle Pass and El Paso, halting trade and commerce.

In Arizona, CBP shuttered operations at the Lukeville Port of Entry, forcing all commercial trucks, passenger vehicles, and pedestrians to drive several hours to the next closest border crossing.

At the nation's busiest port of entry in California, the San Ysidro crossing has shut down access to pedestrians. More than 20,000 pedestrians legally cross into the U.S. daily at San Ysidro.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose district includes 800 miles of the 2,000-mile border, toured hard-hit areas in Eagle Pass and El Paso this week and said what he had seen was beyond anything U.S. border officials have dealt with in the past three years.

“We are absolutely at a breaking point, beyond a breaking point,” Gonzales said during a press conference in El Paso Thursday. “I'm tired of the do-nothings. We need help today. This is a hurricane, Category 6. This needs to end today."

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The Biden administration has not hinted at what types of actions or agreements it would be open to in return for increased Mexican cooperation. Gonzales said increasing deportations is critical.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.