White House chief of staff John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE likened Mexico to Venezuela during a conversation with President Trump this month, telling Trump that Mexico was similarly on the verge of collapse, according to The New York Times.

Kelly made the comments to Trump after the president met with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

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Kelly has long been an advocate for increased security measures along the U.S. southern border, and made that a focus of his efforts during his short tenure as Homeland Security secretary.

The Trump administration is currently under fire from the president's base for not making enough progress on building the wall, which was one of his key campaign promises in 2016.

Venezuela is facing a wave of violent antigovernment protests, resulting in numerous deaths in recent months. The South American country is dealing with food and medicine shortages, as well as hyper inflation.

Mexico is an important U.S. ally in both trade and law enforcement.

Trump appeared to threaten Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro last month, saying the U.S. has “many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary.”