Kamala Harris' warning to future asylum seekers during her first international trip as vice president reminded some of the rhetoric used by Donald Trump during the previous Administration to dissuade Central American migrants from leaving for the southern border.
“I want to be clear with the people in this region who are thinking of making that dangerous journey to the border between the United States and Mexico: Don't come.
Don't come, ”Harris insisted on Monday from Guatemala.
“The United States will
continue to enforce our laws and protect our border
.
There are legal methods by which legal migration can and should occur ”, he warned.
Harris traveled to Guatemala and then to Mexico before returning to Washington Tuesday night as part of the Joe Biden Administration's efforts to address the so-called root causes of migration from Central America.
His short tour occurs at a time when irregular migration is on the rise, becoming one of the main challenges in the first months of his mandate.
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to journalists in Mexico City after her meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his cabinet on June 8, 2021. AP
The comments of the vice president - the one in charge of Biden to deal with the crisis at the border - were inflammatory for progressive politicians, defenders of the rights of migrants and voices within the Hispanic community itself.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic representative from New York, called her statements "disappointing" and stressed that it is legal to ask for asylum.
"First,
seeking asylum on any US border is a 100% legal method of arrival
," said the congresswoman.
Second, the United States spent decades contributing to regime change and destabilization in Latin America.
We can't help set someone's house on fire and then blame them for running away. "
[The Supreme Court determines that undocumented persons protected by TPS are not eligible to obtain a 'green card']
"Seeking protection from violence and persecution is a fundamental human right, and the right to seek asylum is protected by US and international law," the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement.
"These comments go against the right to seek asylum here and indicate a disturbing continuity between the Trump Administration and the Biden-Harris Administration."
Others have reacted in disbelief that the warning against asylum seekers came from the highest-ranking immigrant in American politics: Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father.
“I just saw the vice president say to the refugees today: 'Don't come,'” journalist María Hinojosa tweeted.
“Honestly, I'll just tell you that I am heartbroken.
For a woman who is the daughter of immigrants to say this to desperate people is simply heartbreaking.
What stay at home and get killed by their lover?
What stay at home and get killed by gangs?
Kamala Harris says in Mexico that "if they give hope" to migrants, they will prefer not to leave their countries
June 9, 202100: 27
Harris has refused to respond directly to the criticism, saying briefly: “It is very clear to me: we have to deal with the root causes (of migration) and that is my hope.
Point".
Along with his “Don't come” message, he also told migrants that the United States would work so that the poor and threatened populations of Latin America have “a sense of hope” in the region and do not feel the need to emigrate.
Criticism for his comments has underscored the politically tense nature of President Biden's task, as well as the difficulty in finding success on immigration, one of the most complex lines of foreign policy for Washington.
Biden commissioned Harris to manage the migration crisis on the border with Mexico at the end of March, when it was already clear that the issue of immigration would be one of the Administration's main challenges, at least in its initial stage.
In selecting her, he highlighted her work as California attorney general and said, "I can't think of anyone who is better qualified to do this."
She responded to the request:
"There is no doubt that this is a challenging situation."
Illegal crossings have grown steadily since April 2020, after then-President Donald Trump used restrictions associated with the pandemic to deny migrants the possibility of seeking asylum.
The trend has accelerated further under Biden, who quickly repealed many of his predecessor's tougher border policies.
US border authorities found nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children in March, the highest number on record.
And in all, they found 170,000 people at the border during April, the highest number in more than 20 years.
Migrants at the border desperately asked for help while Kamala Harris and AMLO spoke
June 8, 202 101: 44
Harris began to receive criticism about the handling of the crisis at the border even before he returned from his trip to Central America.
In a televised interview Tuesday with Lester Holt of NBC News, Noticias Telemundo's sister network, the journalist asked him why he had not yet visited the southern border in person.
"At some point, you know, we'll go to the border," Harris replied.
"We have been to the border."
Holt replied, "You haven't been to the border."
"And I have not been to Europe," replied the vice president with a laugh.
"I don't get the point of what you're asking."
For some, it is essential that the government official in charge of the response to the migration crisis visit the border and learn first-hand the testimonies of asylum seekers and their reasons for leaving their countries of origin.
"It seems very important to me that if someone is telling the migrant community not to come to this country, it is important that they ask the people at the border why they are coming to the United States," said the journalist. Paola Ramos, a regular contributor to Noticias Telemundo.
This was the first meeting of Kamala Harris and López Obrador in the National Palace
June 8, 202102: 26
The vice president left her meetings with the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala with promises to work together to promote economic development and fight illegal human trafficking, smuggling and corruption.
In Mexico, on Tuesday he witnessed the signing of an agreement on migration and development cooperation that seeks to tackle the causes of the irregular exodus to the United States and promote "orderly, safe and regular migratory flows."
"Do I consider this trip a success? Yes," he said at a press conference at a hotel in Mexico City, in what was his last public act before returning to the United States.
But, he stressed, "the problem of the roots of migration is not going to be solved in a two-day trip."
The vice president did not visit Honduras or El Salvador, the other two countries of the Northern Triangle.
