GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala: Washington is redoubling efforts to crack down on irregular migration, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said Tuesday at regional meetings in Guatemala as the hot-button issue resurfaces in November’s US election.
Blinken led the US delegation to a meeting in the Guatemalan capital of Los Angeles on the Declaration on Migration and Protection, a framework for cooperation agreed at the 2022 summit in California.
Blinken said six months before the election, in which President Joe Biden is expected to run again against Republican Donald Trump, they have “stepped up efforts against those who prey on vulnerable migrants,” particularly those who fly people from Asia, Africa and elsewhere to Central America.
Washington announced a new visa restriction policy in February that targets “individuals who knowingly provide transportation to those who intend to illegally migrate to the United States, including charter flights arriving in Nicaragua,” he said.
On Monday, the United States introduced visa restrictions for Colombian maritime migration executives who facilitate illegal migration, Blinken added.
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“We are redoubling our efforts to protect migrant workers from exploitation,” he said.
Blinken announced an additional $578 million in planned humanitarian, development and economic assistance to help provide water, shelter and emergency health care to migrants and refugees.
The United States also announced expanded law enforcement partnerships to prevent illegal migration, including increased consequences for smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants, the White House said in a statement.
Record numbers of migrants are trying to reach the United States, mostly from Central America and Venezuela, as they flee poverty, violence and disasters exacerbated by climate change.
Nearly 2.5 million people were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2023 through September, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Trump and other Republicans across the United States have tried to link the wave of illegal migration to Biden’s border policies, vowing to crack down if elected in November.
Tuesday’s talks in Guatemala City were attended by foreign ministers and other senior officials from around 20 countries.
Speaking at a regional meeting, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo called for “safe, orderly, humane and regulated migration.”
Washington has been courting Arevalo’s new administration as a partner on migration, with Biden hosting him for a meeting in March. The visit also saw the announcement of $170 million in US aid.
A month earlier, Guatemala also agreed to trilateral cooperation with the United States and Mexico on migration.
