08 JUNE 2021

MEMO: Addressing root causes is effective and popular solution to forced migration

WASHINGTON, DC— Vice President Kamala Harris kicks off her trip to Mexico and Guatemala today, in the strongest signal yet that the Biden Administration is tackling forced migration head-on by addressing the root causes driving people from their homes, particularly in Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle. Over two days, the Vice President will meet with directly impacted people and government leaders, in what is her first trip abroad as Vice President.

President Joe Biden’s appointment of Vice President Harris this spring to lead efforts to address the root cause of migration from Central America not only shows this Administration’s commitment to solving this issue but also its competence -- a marked difference from the prior Administration which only made things worse by cutting aid, throttling our legal immigration system, and gutting the asylum process, including ending the program that allowed asylum applications from home-countries.

The root causes of forced migration are complex and based on decades of economic, political conditions as well as acute factors like climate change, natural disasters, and hunger. Equally, the solutions will be complex and not bring change overnight. However, this early commitment to addressing them is the only sustainable remedy to an issue that’s been treated with temporary bandaids for far too long. 

Understanding and addressing the concrete reasons people are leaving their communities is critical to reducing forced migration, and the Vice President is actively building a bold, new strategy to finally tackle a decades-long issue. Despite what the debate in Washington makes it feel like, effective immigration policy does not begin and end at our southern border. That’s because the people who arrive at our border often start their journey thousands of miles away. Most people want to stay where they are from -- where they have family, they speak the language, and understand the culture. The people fleeing Central America today have been denied that option. They are escaping violence, hunger, natural disasters, and too often a government that has turned its back on the needs of its people. 

A serious immigration strategy must look beyond our borders; it must start where people are coming from - in Central America. The Biden-Harris administration has already granted humanitarian and food insecurity relief as it begins to build and implement a comprehensive regional framework to manage migration, work with the region to strengthen democratic governance and advance the rule of law, and counter and prevent violence and other crimes, among other strategies to help empower the countries and its people. This is the message that the Vice President’s trip will send to both Mexico and Central America -- one of serious action and hope that the future will be different. 

This approach is wildly popular. Polling shows widespread support among Americans to this approach: 

• 85% of voters agree that the U.S. should work more closely with other countries in the region to preemptively reduce migration.

• 61% of American voters do not think harsher immigration policies will keep people from migrating across the Mexico—U.S. border.

• A majority of voters feel that it is acceptable for immigrants to enter the United States if they are fleeing violence in their home country (57%).

Vice President Harris has secured early commitments from key partners.

The Vice President’s trip to Mexico and Guatemala builds on rapid progress already made including: 

• key commitments from governments in the region to establish greater cooperation, and an agreement with Guatemala on combating transnational criminal organizations, human trafficking and human smuggling;

• major humanitarian efforts including $310 million in aid to Central America to help alleviate conditions from droughts, food shortages and the pandemic which drive migration, as well as support safety measures for refugees and asylum seekers;

• new programs and deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to provide expertise in food assistance, jobs programs, and protection for vulnerable families and communities;

• and, just last week, new commitments from 12 companies and organizations to support inclusive economic development in the Northern Triangle.

Through diplomatic work that began before this trip and will continue, the Vice President will engage partners and foreign leaders to stem violence, work to improve economic conditions, better protect women and children, and address extreme hunger, homelessnes, and the devastating impacts of climate change.

Additional Resources:

• Executive Order on Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework to Address the Causes of Migration, to Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and to Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border

• Why Kamala Harris Should Push Constructive Disruption in Central America

• Putting Hope Into Action in Central America

• Interview with Sergio Gonzales, Executive Director of Immigration Hub: What to expect from Vice President Kamala Harris’ first foreign trip

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.