Washington will allow some children in El Salvador,Guatemala and Honduras to apply for refugee status from their home countries, Vice President Joe Biden announced on Friday (November 14), in a bid to stem an exodus of undocumented migrants to the U.S. border through Mexico.
Biden presented the plan while speaking at a conference in downtown Washington, D.C., at the InterAmerican Development Bank. Biden was joined at the event by three Central American presidents, including Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.
The conference was convened to discuss the Central Americanpresidents’ plan, dubbed “Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle, to attract billions of dollars to help curb the flow of illegal migrants from Central America to the U.S.
Biden used the public platform to roll out the first phase of Washington’s plan to enact immigration reform by year’s end.
“It’s not about what we can do for the region, it’s about what we can do with, what we can do together. We all have an obligation to help the most vulnerable and to keep families together. That’s why I am pleased to announce today we that we are launching what we refer to as an in-country refugee processing for certain minors in Guatemala, Hondurasand El Salvador who meet the international standards for asylum. Starting in early December, this program will allow parents who are lawfully residing in the United States to request U.S. refugee resettlement for children still in those three countries without having to make the harrowing trip on their own,” he said.
The arrival of tens of thousands of illegal migrants from the three countries – including more than 60,000 children travelling without parents – caused widespread alarm in the United States this summer, and problems for President Barack Obama as he pushed for the sweeping immigration reforms.
In his speech, Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Central America, but made no promises of additional financial assistance to help curb the influx of migrants, as regional leaders have urged.
Indeed, the vice president made it clear to the Central Americancountries that Washington cannot provide all the answers.
“No amount of international government assistance can compare to the 2.4 billion dollars in foreign direct investment that went last year toGuatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Business leaders from Central America can invest in Central America. I would urge you: more than instead of sending the money overseas, put your money where you say you believe things can happen. We have an expression in English — put your money where your mouth is. Step up. The bottom line is when we see the political will required to make progress all of us, all of us in the hemisphere and beyond have to ready to take action along with the governments,” he said.
In speaking before the Washington audience, Perez Molina surveyed just how much emigration affects the Central American countries.
“The statistics make it clear — between nine and ten percent of our respective populations are making the choice to emigrate to the United States. In the case of Guatemala, I can say, with the statistics we have, given that there are 15 million people living in Guatemala, the statistics tell us there are roughly 1.5 million Guatemalans living here in theUnited States. And so this tells us that people have decided to emigrate for various reasons, and it also makes it clear that we have to make the strongest possible effort in our countries to succeed (with our plan) so our citizens feel it’s possible to live with dignity, as they deserve, in their own countries,” he said.
Guatemala has said it is seeking $10 billion – some $2 billion a year for five years – toward the effort, chiefly from the United States.
Honduras, for its part, would like that much or more. In speaking at the IDB, Hernandez recalled how the the crisis of unaccompanied immigrant children forced the three leaders to react.
“When we were talking about this issue during that very painful time, (particularly) for a president, that our people, or really our children, were willing to risk their life to make the journey, to decide to come in mass to the border, that was a painful moment. And so we said, ‘okay, we have to confront this issue. We have to work together.’ And that is the first challenge in the region (to find a solutions), finding a way to work together,” he said.
Sanchez Ceren made clear spurring development in Central Americamust start with education.
“(We need to invest in) a more effective vocational training, improve access to and (invest in) a better secondary education as well as greater investment in early childhood, which is the human capital of the future. We hope to accelerate the implementation of measures that will assure the pre-school success from the first years of life that create quality education opportunities that are in line with our vision of progress,” he said.
A White House proposal for an additional $300 million for Central America, which would double current U.S. commitments to the region, fell flat in Congress this summer.
Many conservative Republicans insist Washington should deal withCentral American migration mainly by excluding undocumented newcomers.
But other lawmakers have been supportive of such a refugee program, saying it would offer some children a safe and legal way to leave countries struggling with poverty and some of the world’s highest murder rates.
It is unclear how much impact the plan, which begins in December, would have on the migration problem, given a 4,000-person quota for refugee applications from all of Latin America.
Reuters wires