In a virtual meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giamatti on Monday (April 26), U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the U.S. government will provide $310 million in support to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to implement humanitarian relief and address food insecurity.
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are known as the Northern Triangle countries of Central America. The number of migrants from the region has skyrocketed recently, leading to a crisis at the U.S. border. Vice President Harris was authorized by U.S. President Joe Biden last month to take the lead in resolving the border crisis. On Monday, Harris told a meeting that the U.S. is planning to increase relief to the Northern Triangle and “strengthen our cooperation” to better manage the increased migration at the U.S. southern border.
The White House statement noted that the two leaders at the meeting “agreed to open a Migrant Resource Center in Guatemala” to provide “services, asylum referrals and refugee resettlement for legal migrant seekers or asylum seekers.”
Reuters noted that Harris has so far spoken by phone with Jamati and Mexican President Obrador and held a number of symposiums with experts and advocates in the region.
In Monday’s meeting, Harris said the acute causes of the surge in migration were the hurricanes, ongoing drought and pandemic that hit the region last fall – as well as “root causes” such as the region’s lack of economic opportunity, extreme weather conditions and government corruption.
And some conservatives believe the current administration’s lax border policies are the real reason for the surge in refugees.
Republicans charge that Harris is still not doing enough in the area, and they say neither Harris nor President Biden has gone to the border to review the situation there. In March, record numbers of illegal immigrants, migrant families and unaccompanied children tried to cross the border, putting enormous pressure on the federal department responsible for detaining, housing and processing them.
The border situation is not just a challenge, it’s a crisis, said U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Mich.) on Newsmax TV March 29. “It’s a direct result of an administration policy (that) basically puts up a giant neon sign that says ‘come on,’ even though it poses a serious threat to children and families who are being exploited by human traffickers.”
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