Migrant crossings plunge at US-Mexico border: Big victory for Biden and Kamala?

Last updated on August 19th, 2024 at 08:51 am

Early in 2021, President Joe Biden tasked Vice President Kamala Harris with helping to stem the increasing flow of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. A huge challenge lies ahead for Harris now that she is at the helm of the Democratic Party in the 2024 presidential race.

The focus of Harris on root causes:

Harris decided to deal with the “root causes” of migration from three Central American countries: El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. She mainly wanted to persuade private companies to invest in those countries. She reasoned that creating more jobs there would give people reasons to stay home instead of coming to the U.S.

Harris was careful in how she handled this task. She didn’t try to quickly stop people from crossing the border. Rather, she focused on long-term solutions that might take years to show results. As a consequence, she has received both praise and criticism.

Mixed Results:

While fewer people came from the three countries Harris focused on, more migrants started coming from other places. This has led to a crisis at the border that Republicans have used to criticize Harris.

Contrary to what some may say, Harris was never responsible for securing the border or preventing people from crossing illegally. Her mission was to deal with reasons people leave their countries and persuade Central American and Mexican leaders to do a better job of enforcing their own immigration laws.

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Investment Efforts: She has used her position to encourage investment by big companies like Visa and Nestle in Central America. This was to spur jobs and improve the economy of those countries. Some of those firms have begun promised projects, but it is taking time for all of that promised money to be spent.

Another reason people may leave is her work on corruption in Central American countries. She met with people who had to flee from their home countries over the fight for lack of corruption.

Debate Over Results:

There has been some dispute over whether Harris’ approach has worked. Some say it helped reduce migration from certain countries, while others argue other factors are responsible for any changes.

Critics answer that Harris could have done more, and her approach will take far too long to bear fruit. Harris and her boosters defend her work, saying she’s wrestling with a thorny and complex problem in a thoughtful way.