‘Border czar’ Kamala Harris is BACK on migration: VP will meet the President of Guatemala to discuss the ‘root causes’ of the surge in migrants from central America
- Harris is scheduled to meet with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo on Monday afternoon to discuss immigration issues
- Biden’s term has seen record numbers and it has become a campaign issue
- Republicans call Harris the failed ‘border czar’
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is charged with protecting America’s borders, will meet Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo at the White House on Monday to discuss how to reduce migration from Central America.
Immigration has become a hot-button political issue for President Joe Biden as he seeks a second term in the White House. Republicans accuse him of mishandling border security amid record numbers of border crossings.
The Biden team is fighting Republican-scinded legislation intended to help the issue at the urging of Donald Trump, Biden’s rival for the White House.
Biden put Harris in charge of discovering the “root causes of migration” and the record number of crossings during his term led Republicans to call the vice president a failed “border czar.”
Texas State Troopers stand guard blocking migrants camping along the riverbank, at the US-Mexico border, near El Paso, Texas
U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics show that 961,537 border conflicts have been reported this fiscal year alone.
The year, which runs from October to September, is already at its current pace, breaking last year’s record of 2,475,669.
In total, nearly 7.3 million migrants have entered the country under Biden’s watch, a number larger than the population of 36 individual states, a Fox News analysis showed last month.
Harris’ meeting with Arevalo is also aimed at boosting the young administration of the new liberal president. Arevalo’s inauguration was postponed in January by opponents seeking to weaken his authority.
A White House official told Reuters that having a government in Guatemala committed to rooting out corruption would help reduce migration.
Harris and Arevalo will discuss the Biden administration’s use of “safe mobility offices,” which have been set up in Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador to help ease the immigration problem.
The offices are designed to streamline the refugee process, so migrants can register where they are and not have to pay smugglers to make the journey north.
The vice president is also expected to announce $5.2 billion in investments in Central America. These investments include a commitment by Meta to train young people and small business owners in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Vice President Kamala Harris (left) will meet with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo (right) at the White House to discuss migration issues
U.S. National Guard personnel strengthen a fence covered in concertina wire near migrants at the border with Mexico, seen from Ciudad Juarez
Migrants huddle on the dry riverbed of the Rio Grand River near El Paso, Texas
Arévalo won the presidency in August, defeating the establishment candidate by a comfortable margin.
He is the 65-year-old son of former Guatemalan President Juan José Arévalo, who is credited with implementing some of Guatemala’s most important labor protection measures.
He has a background in academia and conflict resolution. He campaigned on the message of challenging the country’s entrenched power structure and resuming the fight against corruption.