The unreliable border policies of Latin American governments directly correlate to the cold-shoulder President Joe Biden’s administration has thus far given them.
One of the Biden administration’s first acts was to rescind the “Remain in Mexico” policy. This turned migrants away at the border, but allowed them to stay in Mexico to file their asylum claims. In February, the State Department suspended agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras that kept asylum-seekers in their home countries while their applications were reviewed.
Now, the cartels are filling their pockets as unaccompanied children stream across our border. Every time the Biden administration claims it is trying to stem the tide of migration, it adopts a contradictory policy that worsens the border situation. A month from now, the administration plans to end another tool to curb migration by ending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical order that allowed us to turn immigrants away at the border to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Vice President Kamala Harris says she is trying to address the root causes of migration. Here’s a hint: The major cause isn’t from Central America, it’s coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The lack of attention to Latin America extends beyond the well-publicized border issues. So far, there has been no special representative appointed to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Before trying to topple the dictatorship, Democrats are reportedly preparing to capitulate to Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuelan leaders were in Washington last week, yet Maduro has done nothing to earn a reprieve. Why hasn’t he returned the ‘Citgo 6’ U.S. citizen oil executives home?
The risks are clear. If Maduro gains a reprieve from Washington, the restoration of democracy to the Venezuelan people will be lost.
There has also been almost total silence from the Biden administration on Cuba. Indeed, it took an assassination attempt on the president of Colombia to get a phone call from Biden. The president, however, has still not called or met with the president of Brazil.
The complete lack of attention to Brazil, a major non-NATO U.S. ally, a member of the G-20, and easily one of our most important relationships in Latin America, is a massive diplomatic miss.
True, the administration does get credit for sending three million COVID vaccines to Brazil. But Brazil is a country of over 210 million people. Is there a comprehensive plan for vaccinating our friends in Latin America? A program to strengthen bilateral or regional trade agreements? Or to push back Chinese influence in the region?
Two things are clear. First, whatever Biden is doing to try and fix the border is not working. Second, failure bears a direct link to Biden’s absent foreign policy in Latin America.
Consider how the lack of a comprehensive strategy is wreaking havoc in the growth of organized crime. FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified before Congress that there is an “epidemic” of dangerous drug smuggling, sex and human trafficking, and even gang activity at the border.
China has not forgotten about our hemisphere. Beijing is leveraging access to its vaccines to obligate Brazil and the Dominican Republic to reverse their prior decisions on excluding Huawei from their systems. China is also reportedly using access to its vaccine to get Paraguay to stop recognizing Taiwan. The list of examples of rising Chinese influence in our hemisphere go on and on.
Ultimately, the Biden administration is still young. There remains time to take corrective steps in Latin American policy. But if the handling of our southern border is an indicator for the lack of attention paid to the rest of the region, it may be a leaderless four years.
Morgan D. Ortagus has served in the last three presidential administrations as U.S. Department of State spokesperson, U.S. Treasury deputy attache to Saudi Arabia, and as a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, in addition to many senior roles in the private sector.
