Biden’s border crisis deepens over fight with key leaders

Bloomberg

Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself navigating strained relations with the leaders of Central American countries that have produced a surge of migrants to the US, vastly complicating her assignment to curb a growing humanitarian crisis on the southwest border.
Most would-be immigrants are from the so-called Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -– and their economies are tied to billions of dollars of annual remittances from their citizens working in the US.
The difficulties are deeper still: The president of Honduras is accused by US prosecutors of being part of a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, the president of El Salvador refused to see a US envoy and the Guatemalan congress wouldn’t swear in a corruption-fighting judge.
“This is not a situation in which we write a check to governments and let them spend it as they wish,” said Roberta Jacobson, who is leaving her job as the border coordinator for the Biden administration after three months.
Of course, the US is hardly blameless. Over many decades, it’s engaged in whiplash-quality shifts in welcoming and rejecting its southern neighbours, enjoying the benefits of vulnerable low-wage workers at the ready. Previous administrations have backed coup attempts and supported strongmen who carried out abuses against their citizens. Salvadoran gangs originated in Los Angeles prisons; their leaders were deported south where they’ve taken over whole parts of the country, spreading murder and mayhem.
Some 172,000 migrants were apprehended at the US-Mexico border in March, the most in two decades. The problem is both push and pull: residents are driven out by hurricanes, crop failure, crime and corruption; they are drawn to the US by family ties, work and stability in an economy expected to
explode with post-pandemic opportunities, and an administration promising more humane treatment after the harsher Donald Trump years.
Although immigration may prove to be the Democrats’ biggest political challenge, Harris has few quick fixes, given the politics on both sides, a reality she acknowledges. At a meeting with foundation leaders last week, she said, “If it were easy, it would have been solved a long time ago.” Officials and advisers say Harris will have to figure out a mix of short- and long-term steps, find non-governmental organisations to partner with and use carrots and sticks to fight corruption.
“The governments are going to be part of that but, quite frankly, they’re probably going to be unwilling partners,” said Dan Restrepo, a former Obama White House official who has advised Harris.
The presidencies of El Salvador and Honduras didn’t respond to requests for comment.