Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with senior Latin American officials in Guatemala on Tuesday as part of the Biden administration's push to get countries in the region to step up enforcement of their borders and expand legal ways to migrate.
President Biden has been criticized for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, and the issue is a top concern for many voters in this year's presidential election. In recent years, U.S. officials have increasingly turned to international partnerships to prevent large numbers of migrants from reaching the southern border.
“At the heart of our efforts is the message that individuals should take advantage of legal pathways rather than making the dangerous journey north,” Blinken said Tuesday.
He added: “We are supporting local efforts to help people stay safe in their own countries by addressing the root causes that drive people to move.”
The United States relies heavily on Mexico, its closest migration partner, to control the number of people headed to the southern border. In late December, Blinken and Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, traveled to Mexico to discuss increased enforcement during a month in which U.S. border agents had apprehended more than 250,000 migrants. In a few days in December, 10 thousand stops were made.
Since then, the number of migrants arriving at the southern border has dropped dramatically. In February, agents carried out approximately 140,000 seizures. In March there were more than 137,000 arrests, and April's tally is expected to be even lower, around 129,000, according to a person familiar with the statistics, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss yet-to-be-determined figures.
The downward trend in border numbers could help Biden demonstrate that he is taking border security seriously.
Tuesday's meeting is part of ongoing talks related to the Los Angeles Declaration, a 2022 agreement signed by the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and other countries. The agreement stipulated that each country was responsible for the security of its own borders and that the countries would promote new legal migration efforts.
Kristie Canegallo, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, said the pact is important to “provide a shared framework and goals.”
US officials point to the creation of so-called safe mobility offices in countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador and Costa Rica as a direct result of the agreement. The offices have helped the Biden administration increase processing of refugees from the region.
The United States on Monday imposed visa restrictions on executives of Colombian companies that transport migrants by sea, saying the movements were “primarily designed to facilitate irregular migration to the United States.”
