WATCH: Biden administration wants more money to fund migrants in their home countries

Speaking to press on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Roberta Jacobson, former US ambassador to Mexico who has been tapped to oversee US policy on migration and asylum, tried to get their stories straight as to the border crisis. The Biden administration is asking for masses of cash from Congress to keep migrants put, to give humanitarian aid, and to deal with the border.

"Surges tend to respond to hope, and there was hope for a more humane policy," Jacobson said about the increase in migration under the Biden administration's short term in office. "I think what we are doing is making sure we respond to that hope."

Jacobson was asked about the $1.5 billion that was appropriated by Congress for the border wall that is now not being finished, and if that money would be reappropriated.

"The president has been very clear about ending the national emergency to the emergency at the border that was used to justify the wall," but she didn't know what would happen to those funds that will now not be used as intended.

She spoke in opposition to the Trump administration's methods of keeping people from traveling north, saying that they were inhumane. However, since Biden has taken office there has been a drastic increase in migration at the southern border.

Jacobson said that "Biden has made it clear since day one that he wants to change our immigration system," saying that the last four years made the immigration system worse, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

She spoke about what is happening with partners in Mexico and Central America, and how the administration is trying to curb the desire of those who want to come to the US from making the journey. They are planning to make changes in those areas, to find ways to invest in the region, to rethink asylum processing, and said that it's only through "addressing those root causes" that they can put a dent in illegal immigration.

She wanted to "emphasize that the funds" they're asking Congress for don't go to governments, but will be used to invest in foreign communities in Central America and Mexico, to help people stay put. Jacobson's plan is to put money into communities, to invest in those areas, and that this would also require some partnerships with private industry.

Nothing that she was saying, Jacobson said, should encourage people to make the "dangerous journey" north, and that as Americans they were "putting [their] values at the center of policy."

Jacobson was asked how the administration would make sure to tell migrants not to travel north, and she said that it's important to work with international organization to "dispel the myths and misinformation that smugglers are using" to get people to come north. She wants to basically raise awareness among vulnerable populations that most people who come to border will be turned away.

Reporters had questions about the corruption in foreign governments, and she reiterated that while the administration does speak with the leaders of these nations, their primary contacts are NGOs and community groups. "We need to work with the organizations that we can in countries," noting that religious organizations are among those that they reach out to.

"We don't deliver money in most cases, we deliver training, we deliver new lighting facilities that reduce violence and crime," Jacobson said. As regards migrants, she said "we provide them with alternatives to making that journey because it's not safe on route."

When asked how they would define success, Jacobson said that "it's clearly a resource issue," citing natural disasters and food insecurity, which requires assistance and aid. She intoned climate change as a driver of natural disasters and gender issues to keep girls in schools, and said that "when the president talks about root causes" some of it is about humanitarian aid and some of it is more long term to "break the cycle of migration sustainably."