The Biden administration is releasing its long-awaited strategy on addressing the root causes of migration from Central America as it continues to struggle with record high numbers of apprehensions at the US southern border.
The strategy, spearheaded by Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House national security team, calls on the US to help expand economic opportunities in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in part by urging private-sector companies to invest there. It also includes programs to make agricultural operations that form the backbone of those nations’ economies more resistant to natural disaster and climate, which have caused people to flee.
The document also outlines efforts to fight corruption, promote democratic governance and protect human rights as well as plans to counter smuggling rings, domestic violence and gender-based crimes.
The strategy, according to a White House fact sheet, “is driven by the US government’s belief that all individuals should be able to find safety and achieve a stable and dignified life within their own countries. When that is not the case, asylum and other legal migration pathways should be available to those who need them.”
Another official said the administration’s goal is not to end migration from Central America but rather to ensure people come using legal means. The administration is exploring ways to make it easier for Central Americans to seek asylum in the US while still in their home countries, making more work visas and refugee slots available to Central Americans and working with other nations like Costa Rica to accept more migrants from the region.
Biden, Harris and other administration officials have told migrants “don’t come” to the US-Mexican border, saying that it involves making an unsafe journey.
US authorities have reported more than 1.1 million apprehensions at the US-Mexico border this fiscal year, including 188,000 in June, a two-decade high that has fueled Republican criticism of Biden’s policies.
Yet more than a third of those who were caught were repeat crossers who had been apprehended by officers at least once in the past 12 months, according to US Customs and Border Protection. That is being driven by Title 42, a public-health authority invoked last year by then-President Donald Trump that allows authorities to quickly expel single adults and families. Biden administration officials have not said when they would lift that order.
Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly assailed the Biden administration’s response to the surge in migration.