WASHINGTON, April 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday held a virtual meeting with community leaders in Guatemala as she seeks to address the root cause of undocumented migration to the United States.
“I want to hear about you. I want to hear about your work,” she told a dozen community representatives who met at the US embassy in Guatemala City for the online event.
President Joe Biden has assigned Harris the task of dealing with the growing flow of undocumented migrants, mostly from Central America, reaching the southern US border.
She told the group that the US government’s focus for aid would not be broad and sweeping but rather a “place-based approach” to assistance.
“We are building a comprehensive strategy that includes business leaders, community leaders” and others, she said.
She added that US officials recognize the “acute factors” causing people to “leave right now,” including violence, corruption, poverty, lack of economic opportunity and climate change.
Harris said that she wanted to hear from the community leaders so that she can “know the people behind the statistics.
“I believe you can help me identify the communities who are most need of support,” she said, including women, Afro-descendants, indigenous people, and LGBTQ people.
Harris said that she hopes to meet with them when she travels to Guatemala in June.
On Monday Harris told Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei in a virtual call that Washington will give $310 million in humanitarian relief to Central America.
Biden has asked Congress for $861 million to address the causes that drive irregular immigration from Central America, within the framework of his $4 billion plan for the region.
His proposal is included in the budget project for next year that has yet to be discussed and approved by legislators.
Most of the migrants come from the three countries of the Central American Northern Triangle. That area, vulnerable to natural disasters, was hit by two devastating hurricanes in November and is struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic and a prolonged drought.