On Wednesday, President Biden told reporters that Vice President Harris will lead the diplomatic efforts to engage with the neighboring countries. Harris will work with Mexico, and the Northern Triangle that includes Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. They will address the root causes of migration.
President Biden has passed the baton to his Vice President exactly in the same way as it happened in the Obama era. Biden, as Vice President, had also worked with the Northern Triangle on economic issues as well as those that involved violence and corruption.
Biden has asked Congress to allocate $4 billion in aid for a four year period to tackle the issues that plague the neighborhood. This aid will be routed through communities and international organizations instead of governments, to avoid possibilities of corruption.
President Biden also told reporters that Harris was the most qualified person to steer these efforts. She has been a prosecutor as well as the Attorney General of California before becoming the Vice President of the United States of America.
This is Harris’ first major foreign portfolio policy and it comes at a time when there are unprecedented numbers of migrants at the southern borders of the nation. Thousands of minors are arriving alone, unaccompanied by adult family members.
Biden said that Harris will work together with countries to increase immigration enforcement rules on their borders. He also said that the huge numbers of immigrants trying to cross over started during the last administration but this administration will deal with it responsibly and “humanely.”
Vice President Harris said that there wasn’t any doubt or question that dealing with growing number of immigrants was “a challenging situation.” She will focus on issues that will make migration less of a necessity in these countries by improving their conditions so that they don’t feel the need to migrate and undergo harsh and difficult border crossings. She repeated the administration’s call asking immigrants not to come to the border.
