President Joe Biden has announced a $4 billion aid package to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, known as the Northern Triangle, with the intention to address the root causes of migration including security and economic development. However, experts question the value of aid as a deterrent, with previous programs showing there is little evidence that aid is effective in discouraging migration.
In conjunction with this aid package, Vice President Kamala Harris embarked on a trip to Guatemala and Mexico with the intention of understanding the root causes of migration. She has since been criticized for her harsh rhetoric, telling migrants “do not come”, leaving out the indelible fact that many of the root causes of migration were caused by US intervention and military-backed coups.
“...the US spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America. We can’t help set someone’s house on fire and then blame them for fleeing”, Representative Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez responded on Twitter. The White House Press Secretary has since clarified VP Harris’s remarks, stating that the intention was to relay that there is still work to be done to get the asylum process to where it should be.
“That aid package proved what many experts have pointed to throughout the years: international aid does not always reach those most in need. ”
Further bewildering is the fact that prior to departure, VP Harris’ own staff assessments pointed to climate change and the economy as “main drivers” contributing to Central American migration.
Aid alone has not shown to be a viable long term solution. Under the Obama administration, then VP Biden’s multi-million dollar economic development package intended to stimulate local growth and slow migration did the exact opposite, showcased by record migrant arrivals in 2019. That aid package proved what many experts have pointed to throughout the years: international aid does not always reach those most in need.
Climate Refugees joint NGO report with the Latin America Working Group, Oxfam, WOLA and others lays out a roadmap for transforming relations between the US and Northern Triangle countries, in which a successful approach includes more than aid.
The report recommends that “the US government’s message to the governments of northern countries of Central America should no longer be: Prevent your people from fleeing. Nor should the answer be: The United States will provide some aid to fix your problems. Rather, the message must be: Protect the rights and well-being of all your citizens so that they can make the choice to stay.”
Such responses to migration call into question the human right to migrate, which is constantly threatened by militaristic border control.
In addition, apart from the Executive Order released in February, the administration has not laid out how the $4 billion aid package will address those displaced by climate change, which, a World Bank study has shown is a real risk in Central America. Although the Northern Triangle is only responsible for 1% of global carbon emissions, they face a constant onslaught of drought, food insecurity, and increased natural disasters, as we saw in hurricanes Eta and Iota last year, not to mention decades of development setbacks, as spelled out in this new UNDP study, where El Salvador is one of the many countries assessed.
Since VP Harris’ initial blunt demand that migrants ‘do not come’ to the US southern border, the US has softened its official position, recognizing the folly of policy based in contrast to its own asylum laws. Instead, many statements have been made clarifying the VPs position, including implementation of the (re-opening) second phase of the Central American Minors (CAM) program, which will expand access to a greater number of applicants. Namely, the program now extends benefits to parents and legal guardians with wider qualifying immigration categories to petition for access to the US Refugee Admissions Program on behalf of their children.
In real terms, this is the difference between minors arriving at the US border safely in mere hours on airplanes versus the dangerous and exploitive days-long journeys of smugglers, crossing terrains, rivers and shadows that closed borders ‘regular pathways’ make invisible.
In real terms, this is an example of the type of policies many of us have been calling for that represents acknowledgment that climate change is impacting displacement and establishes safe and regular pathways for migrants affected. (Washington Post, NY Times, NBC News, Grist)
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Amali Tower contributed to this article