Biden's Solution to Central American Migration Overlooks CAFTA Damage
Biden's Solution to Central American Migration Overlooks CAFTA Damage
Wednesday, 18 March 2015 00:00
By Jeff Abbott, Truthout | News Analysis
During the summer of 2014, the migration crisis reached American televisions with the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors at the US Border. In response, the United States government has taken steps to pressure the governments of Central America to combat violence, and has called for foreign investment in the countries.
In January 2015, Vice President Joseph Biden took to the editorial pages of The New York Times to propose a plan for Central America to address the problems that spur the tens of thousands of migrants to make the dangerous journey to the United States.
"Inadequate education, institutional corruption, rampant crime and a lack of investment are holding these countries back," the vice president wrote in his op-ed. "Six million young Central Americans are to enter the labor force in the next decade. If opportunity isn't there for them, the entire Western Hemisphere will feel the consequences."
The vice president and Obama administration have proposed a plan to increase investment in the region by multinational companies, promising an additional $500 million in economic aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Soon after, the vice president traveled to Guatemala to meet with Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina to discuss the plan.
Biden's plan comes after the Mexican government released statistics on migrant deportations as part of "Plan del Sur," a plan that Mexico and the United States devised to "secure" the southern border with Guatemala. According to government documentation, 42,697 Hondurans, 40,311 Guatemalans, 20,269 Salvadorians, and 976 Nicaraguans were detained and deported just from Mexico alone between January and November 2014, as part of the US and Mexican plan to control the southern border with Guatemala to limit migration from Central America. The Mexican government estimates that in 2015, the number of detained will increase by 150 percent.
Many of the region's policy analysts are not enthused about Biden's plan.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/29621-vice-president-proposes-plan-to-end-migration-from-central-america
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