United States: Biden is not Trump, but message to migrants is the same: ‘don’t come’

Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House may have meant a sea change in many ways on the part of Donald Trump’s administration, but when it comes to the relentless flow of migrants to the southern border of the United States, the message is the same: “don’t come”.

“Don’t come, don’t come. The United States will continue to obey the law and secure the borders. Our priority is to discourage illegal migration. Only coyotes benefit from it.“say it Vice President Kamala Harris in Guatemala, Monday, in the first leg of a trip to the region, which also took her to Mexico.

For Harris, who was commissioned by Biden to find a definitive solution to the problem of illegal migration, “most people don’t want to leave their homes, they don’t want to leave the place where their grandmother grew up, l ‘place where they pray, the place where they speak their language and its culture is familiar’.

Kamala Harris: “Migrants need to see ‘hope’ and results”

Since Biden came to power, the flow of migrants to the Mexican border has increased sharply. In April, some 178,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants, mainly Central Americans, the highest number in 20 years, according to US authorities.

One of the greatest tragedies of this situation is that of minors separated from their parents who are at the border. According to official figures, they are at least 3.913 children separated from their families at the border with Mexico.

As explained in a recent article for PROFILE expert Clarisa Demattei, “for the North American state, whoever or who has been the president, undocumented Hispanic immigration is a problem on the agenda that it has not been able to resolve since. decades”.

The North American Vice President met with the President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, whom he asked for support to do joint work to address the root causes that are driving mass migration to the United States.

The drama of the southern border of the USA

“The purpose of our work is to help Guatemalans find hope at home,” Harris said at a press conference with Giammattei. And at the same time, I want to be clear with those who are considering taking this dangerous journey to the United States border with Mexico: don’t come, don’t come. I think if they do, they will be rejected. “

“We know a lot of people don’t want to leave home,” and that they do because “they can’t meet their basic needs,” Harris said., who argued that administration is a priority for the region, to work “together” to “solve long-standing problems. We need to tackle migration and from this region in particular.”

The North American Vice President explained that the plan to stop the migratory flow to the United States includes improving the economic and physical security from Central America, and announced that the Biden administration will create a anti-corruption working group to investigate and train Central American officials and prosecutors in this fight.

Harris’ ‘don’t come’ message has been criticized by Guatemalan civil society organizations, such as Citizen action, who fight to eradicate corruption.

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“All governments say the same thing. It is a mandatory message, but it is not very effective, ”said Manfredo Marroquín, founder of the NGO. “Harris knows why people are leaving and he knows they are aware of the risks they will take. But these risks are minimal compared to living here your whole life, ”he added.

Already in Mexico, where he completed the second and final leg of his first international tour, which focused on the issue of migration, Harris met President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “I am very happy that the vice president is visiting us and we will be talking about the immigration issue but addressing the root causes,” the president said.

Harris and López Obrador attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Mexico and the United States for the development of the Central American region of Northern Triangle, done by Guatemala, Honduras and Salvador.

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