Hurdles remain for Biden's 'root causes' strategy in Central America

U.S. funding for security efforts in Central America’s Northern Triangle region decreased in 2021, while funding for civilian peace building and democratic participation rose significantly, according to an assessment of President Joe Biden’s executive order on addressing the root causes of migration. Reducing security funding to regional governments is a major request from local organizations that argue they — rather than the governments — are best placed to address drivers of migration.

Biden issued the order in February 2021 shortly after taking office, having pledged to commit $4 billion over four years to reduce migration to the U.S. from the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It emphasized the importance of working with civil society organizations, lessening economic inequality, fighting corruption, protecting human and labor rights, and creating safe and legal pathways for migration. And it marked a shift away from the criminalization policies of the previous administration.

NGOs have long criticized the U.S. for funding governments in the region — which are plagued by endemic corruption — and instead wanted money to be funneled directly to local organizations. The Root Causes Initiative is a network of faith-based organizations in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and the U.S. that work to address underlying causes of migration. It released the new assessment on the first anniversary of the executive order.

It said that the assessment is “by necessity preliminary” because the executive order gave the administration six months to release a comprehensive plan to address root causes and manage migration. That document, the U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America, was made public in July.

Marisa Limón Garza — the deputy director at Hope Border Institute, a member of the Root Causes Initiative — said that while the Biden administration has taken some positive steps, there is a long way to go in overhauling U.S. policy to truly target root causes of migration.

“The reality is such that people are still on the move. People are still going to be migrating from Central America,” Limón Garza said. “The question becomes: How do we move beyond deterrence tactics that are outdated and don’t really work, and how do we think about more humanitarian, thoughtful approaches while also addressing those drivers of migration?”

She continued: “Their biggest impediment — it's not nothing — is the outsized perceptions of the southern border of the U.S. and Mexico and what happens at the southern border for political realities. I think that gets in the way.”

And “that can suck out the oxygen from trying to address the root causes,” she said.

The Root Causes Initiative’s analysis of progress in the executive order’s first year examines four areas related to major drivers of migration: advancing the rule of law, localizing effective aid, promoting broad-based economic inclusion, and promoting humane migration policies. It provides recommendations to the Biden administration to improve policies in those areas.

The assessment found that the largest share of Northern Triangle funding in fiscal year 2021 went to humanitarian assistance for disaster relief and COVID-19, while the amount obligated to international NGOs increased and the amount to international for-profit organizations decreased by a “modest” amount.

The Root Causes Initiative advocates for a localized approach to improving life in communities, saying the administration must see grassroots and faith-based organizations as “true collaborators” in understanding the causes of and curbing illegal migration. It said that “co-creation” is key to engaging local organizations and that U.S. Agency for International Development staffers must meet regularly with organizations — even ones that the agency is not directly funding.

USAID’s Centroamérica Local initiative intends to funnel $300 million to organizations based in the Northern Triangle. As Administrator Samantha Power only announced the initiative in November, it is too soon to measure any impact the localization push may have.

The Root Causes Initiative assessment found that virtually no foreign assistance that was reported on the foreignassistance.gov dashboard was disbursed to government entities, as rule of law deteriorated “significantly” in 2021. Limón Garza said promoting rule of law among Central American governments “is one of the most complex issues that’s at play” for the United States’ ability to effect change in the region.

The U.S. has expressed increasing frustration with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for violations of the rule of law, and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has meddled with the independence of his country’s judicial system. In Honduras, the second presidential term of Juan Orlando Hernández, who has been suspected of narcotrafficking, ended last week as the country’s first female president, Xiomara Castro, was sworn in.

“These partnerships — it’s a delicate dance,” Limón Garza said. “How do you think about getting [resources] … to a community that is outside of the government?”

The Root Causes Initiative recommended imposing additional sanctions on Central American officials and freezing their assets, as well as punishing businesspeople for corruption and human rights abuses. It called for a “consistent set of rule-of-law standards” for the entire region and making respect for rule of law a required condition for multilateral lending.

The document cautioned against relying too much on U.S. corporate investment to advance the objectives of the country’s root causes strategy, saying that such an emphasis in the past has not sufficiently raised the standard of living for people in struggling communities. Inclusive economic policy must also include a focus on labor rights and improving benefits and wages, it said.

In terms of humane migration policy, the Root Causes Initiative called for the end of the public health law known as Title 42, which has been used to restrict access to asylum services during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which doesn’t allow asylum applicants to await a ruling in their case while inside the U.S.

It also said the administration should boost funding for the Central American Minors Program, which reunites Central American children with parents living in the U.S, and increase H-2B visas for people from the region.

Ultimately, comprehensive migration policy cannot only focus on Northern Triangle countries, as an increasing number of people from other nations are arriving at the U.S. southern border, said Yael Schacher, the deputy director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. She said any policy that is going to reduce arrivals at the border must have a vastly larger reach.

“We’re seeing migration up from many other countries in the [Latin American] region. I think that [the U.S. is] … still implementing these root causes strategies but they’re also realizing we’ve got to think of this more hemispherically — not just about the three countries. What about Nicaragua? What about Cuba?” Schacher said.

“The next step would be expanding this strategy out, if the goal is really to grapple with the root causes of migration. And we’re seeing migration from so many places,” she continued. “How could we think about this more hemispherically and actually work more collaboratively with other countries in a productive way?”