A White House initiative to address the causes for millions of Central Americans to flee to the United States over the past decade has had a “positive impact” in reducing the flow of immigrants from the region, according to the Biden administration.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday afternoon that the Department of Homeland Security had seen a decline in the number of immigrants encountered attempting to enter the country without authorization since President Joe Biden tasked her with improving conditions in three countries with high sending rates.
“We are already beginning to see positive trends. Data from the Department of Homeland Security shows that the number of migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, where our root causes efforts have been focused, has significantly declined over the last 18 months,” Harris said during a White House news conference. “Now, of course, this could change over time, and we will continue to monitor these trends, but this gives us an indication of the positive impact our work has had thus far.”
DHS data published on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s website show that nearly 95,000 people from Central America’s Northern Triangle region — El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — were encountered illegally crossing the border or lacked documents to cross at a port of entry in July 2021.
TEXAS COULD BE REIMBURSED BILLIONS FOR BORDER CRISIS COSTS UNDER NEW LEGISLATION
In December 2022, the last month that CBP data is available, fewer than 34,000 immigrants from the Northern Triangle were encountered nationwide.
Biden first called in February 2021 for the creation and implementation of a strategy to address the root causes of people leaving their home countries.
Since then, U.S. corporations have invested $4.2 billion into regional projects that will improve the economy so that they do not need to leave, according to Harris. Investments include giving 6 million residents access to small business financing by 2027; providing education and employment training to 75,000 people by 2027; facilitating $500 million in infrastructure deals by 2027; and creating and securing jobs for 1 million people by 2032.
The same month that Biden called for a solution to problems in Central America, just 45,000 immigrants from those three countries were intercepted at the border.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Harris was tapped to oversee the effort shortly and maintained over the past year and a half that it would not have an impact overnight on the number of immigrants fleeing to the U.S.
Although the White House touted success in its Central American initiative, illegal immigration from other countries has skyrocketed to the highest levels in U.S. history.
DHS data going back to 2007 show that Mexicans made up 90% of all arrests that year. By 2019, immigrants from the Northern Triangle made up more than 70% of all arrests. Now, immigrants from countries outside of Mexico and the Northern Triangle make up 1.1 million of the total 3.4 million apprehensions, or 32%, according to federal data.
The shift brings challenges for national security, as well as diplomatic headaches, as the U.S. cannot easily deport citizens to nations with hostile governments. Countries must be willing to accept repatriated citizens. Mexico and most Central American nations have good diplomatic relations with the U.S. and allow citizens to be flown back, serving to an extent as a deterrent. The opposite is the case for people fleeing countries to which they can’t be returned.
