Washington, United States
The United States clarified on Wednesday that there are no new security agreements with Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras to mobilize soldiers and police as part of its strategy to curb irregular immigration, and stressed instead the importance of working together to address this phenomenon and address its causes.
the US special envoy for the North Central American Triangle, Ricardo Zúñiga, clarified before a subcommittee of the House of Representatives that the Administration of President Joe Biden has not signed any such agreement.
“No agreements have been reached with governments on border security,” Zúñiga said when asked by the government. Hispanic congressman Joaquín Castro.
The Texas legislature he said he had been previously informed by the State Department that the versions on the alleged agreements were not accurate and noted the concern generated by human rights organizations about the possible use of police and military to curb the arrival of undocumented immigrants .
Zúñiga thus clarified an announcement made on Monday in the White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki which indicated that the US had reached agreements with Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to mobilize thousands of military and police on its borders.
A day after Psaki’s claims, Mexico responded that for “more than a month” it had displaced 12,000 people, including soldiers, migration agents and other officials, to curb the wave of migration and especially child trafficking. of age.
In turn, Guatemala and Honduras they denied having signed a new agreement.
The US envoy, who recently visited El Salvador and Guatemala, stressed that what they do agree with these countries is the importance of “continuing to work together and collaborate to manage migration, so that it improves the security of each country, and allows Governments to enforce the law on their borders as the United States does. “
For Zúñiga, the current flow of migrants from Central America “is part of a recurring pattern” that drives mass migration, among the causes he identified insecurity, lack of opportunities and the search for a better life.
A White House spokesman had indicated on Tuesday that the countries of the North American Central Triangle have already collaborated in the past in “discouraging irregular migration,” which he considered a “shared challenge.”
The Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveal that last March 172,331 undocumented people were intercepted on the border with Mexico, 70.6% more than in February this year and the highest monthly figure in 20 years.
Of this total, 18,890 were underage immigrants who arrived in U.S. territory alone.
This Wednesday, the US Vice President Kamala Harris, Announced its intention to travel “soon” to Mexico, Guatemala and possibly other Central American countries to talk about how to “address the root causes” that generate irregular immigration, he explained during a meeting with experts in immigration, Central America and development.
The vice president, who was tasked by Biden with coordinating with Central American countries to try to curb irregular immigration, did not say whether she would also travel to the other two countries that make up the North Triangle, where most of the immigrants who arrive on the border between Mexico and the USA come from
Harris felt the U.S. has a chance to provide Central Americans with “some sort of hope that if they stay home, help is on the way.”