Biden administration releases plan to tackle 'root causes' of migration

As the United States increasingly uses development assistance to deter migration, the U.S. Agency for International Development will be “integral” to implementing the Biden administration’s newly released Strategy to Combat Migration from Central America, Michael Camilleri, executive director at the USAID Northern Triangle Task Force, said Thursday.

The Biden administration on Thursday released the strategy to deter people who are “fleeing in record numbers,” as President Joe Biden faces increasing political pressure to stop the flow of refugees and migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border.

The strategy puts foreign assistance at the center of addressing the movement of people from the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which it says is caused by factors including lack of economic opportunity, climate change, violence, and corruption.

“We are already embarking on a process to align and optimize both our current and future programming to the specific lines of effort that you’ve seen in the strategy,” Camilleri told reporters during a briefing call Thursday. “So in terms of the funding that the administration has requested from Congress, certainly for Fiscal Year ’22, the majority of that will flow through USAID. So we see our role and the implementation of this as absolutely critical in collaboration with our State Department colleagues and those across the interagency.”

The strategy’s five “pillars” are: addressing economic insecurity and inequality; combating corruption, strengthening democratic governance, and advancing the rule of law; promoting respect for human rights, labor rights, and a free press; countering and preventing violence, extortion, and other crimes perpetrated by criminal gangs, trafficking networks, and other organized criminal organizations; and combating sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence.

“Some of this can sound a little bit semantic, I think, depending on which angle you’re coming at it from,” Camilleri said. “But ultimately, the endeavor to create the conditions where the citizens of these countries can envision a hopeful future for themselves in their home countries, which is what they want to do, is one that is entirely I think consistent, and of USAID’s mission, and one that we very much embrace.”

Biden ordered his administration in February to produce a comprehensive plan to help Central Americans be prosperous at home so they did not feel the need to come to the U.S. to lead successful lives.

The February executive order also mandated the administration develop a Collaborative Migration Management Strategy, a document that was also released Thursday. It outlines an approach “to manage safe, orderly, and humane migration,” including expanding access to protection in countries of origin and international protection; stabilizing people with acute needs; expanding legal migration pathways, and assistance for the reintegration of returned migrants.

USAID is increasingly using data to focus programming on areas where the most people are migrating from, Camilleri said. As the root causes strategy is implemented, the administration will “build in assessment points” to determine whether it is effective. If it is not producing desired results, programming will be “adjusted” and “discontinued as required.”

The plan acknowledges that successfully addressing root causes cannot be achieved instantly and splits up goals into short-, medium-, and long-term objectives.

Humanitarian needs, including continued fallout from two hurricanes that hit the region in fall of 2020, will be addressed in the short term, while promoting reforms, creating economic opportunity, fighting corruption, addressing climate change, and combating insecurity are medium-term goals. Deepening partnerships, institutionalizing programs to ensure democratic institutions, and regional integration are long-term goals of the root causes strategy.

In addition to development assistance, the U.S. will also use diplomacy, sanctions, and visa restrictions “to build political will among leaders in Central America” to improve governance and the conditions in those countries. The Biden administration said it will also consult with Congress, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector as it implements the strategy.

The U.S. will develop a communications plan to “instill hope in the region” by advertising efforts to improve conditions in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, as well as a campaign to discourage irregular migration.  

“We are focused on the long term. We recognize that the chronic challenges in the region will take sustained commitment. We’re dedicated to being a good partner for the people of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.  And at the same time, we recognize that development assistance is not a panacea,” Camilleri said.

“So our assistance can be catalytic; it can in some cases galvanize political will,” Camilleri continued. “But it will not replace the responsibility that Central American governments have to their own people, and our focus on strengthening democratic governance, transparency, and accountability very much reflects this.”