The Biden administration is trying to manage expectations for Kamala Harris’ first international trip as vice president
GUATEMALA CITY — .
“Migration in the Western Hemisphere is a structural issue that is not going to be resolved in a matter of six months,” said a senior administration aide who has been briefing Harris for months on the issue. “She can’t just go down and deliver an announcement of aid,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. “She also has to be seen as listening to people, because if the strategy in Central America is going to work, there has to be a two-way dialogue open with people who are working for change there.”Administration officials point out Harris has been keen on meeting with more than the leaders of Guatemala and Mexico.
“I expect when she comes back, she'll want to bring the Cabinet together again to make sure we're making progress [on] the goals that she's set to make sure that the governments themselves are meeting our expectations for their level of engagement, to make sure that the international community is engaged.”
But aides say they aren’t focused on correcting the record for Republicans, because the trip likely won’t change the GOP’s tactics. “They're deliberately not getting it. It's not hard to understand but they want to try to tie her up in the border czar position for their own purposes,” a senior administration official said.
Advocates and community leaders in Guatemala on Thursday urged the Biden administration to take concrete action to improve conditions for Guatemalans in their home country and those already in the U.S. That includes rescinding Title 42, which allows the U.S. to almost immediately expel migrants arriving at the border and granting Guatemalans Temporary Protected Status, which would grant legal status to certain migrants already in the U.S.
Beyond enforcement, there needs to be a “commitment to doing the greatest effort to amend [U.S.] immigration laws” and “have a real investment in development not only in Central America but in south, southeast of Mexico,” Martha Bárcena, former Mexican ambassador to the U.S., said.
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