While it may sound like good policy, Vice President Kamala Harris’s plan to address the “root causes” of migration is unnecessary to solve our border crisis.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House released a cover letter outlining its plan to tackle the root causes of migration in Central America. The letter by Harris states that America must “consistently engage with the region to address the hardships that cause people to leave Central America and come to our border.”
The more detailed plan, titled “U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America,” consists of five pillars on issues ranging from addressing economic insecurity to promoting respect for human rights.
But aside from the plan’s fourth pillar, which addresses countering the influence of criminal gangs, the strategy calls on the United States to engage in what is essentially state-building. Harris’s plan would ask the U.S. to support “new energy delivery infrastructure” and efforts to improve the resilience of “core public infrastructure,” even as the Senate begins debate on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package at home.
The strategy also outlines efforts to reform Central American governments. The U.S. will attempt to strengthen the independence of the countries’ justice sectors and improve the efficacy of their legislatures. Even civil society and media organizations will be supported.
Though the cost of Harris’s plan was not stated in the report, such a broad and ambitious state-building agenda is likely to be expensive. Additionally, this new “root causes” plan will probably be ineffective.
A 2013 paper by University of California, Davis professor Philip Martin found that economic inequality motivates international migration. Martin also noted that “young people are especially motivated to cross national borders to earn higher wages.” So, even if the Central American states are strengthened, migrants will continue to journey to the U.S. in search of higher wages.
In addition to being ineffective, this latest plan by the White House is unnecessary. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols. This strategy ended the practice of “catch and release,” instead forcing migrants to “remain in Mexico” while their asylum claims were adjudicated.
As I previously wrote, Trump’s blueprint was effective at stemming the flow of migrants across the southern border. But despite their effectiveness, Trump-era policies were reversed by the Biden administration. And as a result, we have seen border crimes surge. It has increased so much that the governors of Texas and Arizona have requested law enforcement and military personnel from other states this past June.
It is clear that Harris’s plan for Central American state-building is not needed to end the surge at our southern border. Biden’s reversal of Trump-era policies is the “root cause” that the vice president should immediately fix.
