As enormous amounts of U.S. taxpayer dollars pour into Central America under Vice President Kamala Harris’s ill-fated initiative to curb illegal immigration, the Biden administration laughably claims the costly strategy is successful and having far-reaching impacts throughout the region by creating jobs, supporting education, enhancing food security and combating human smuggling. That will improve life enough to deter citizens in the impoverished nations known as the northern triangle— El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—from coming to the U.S. illegally, according to the vice president’s program, which aims to tackle the “root causes” or drivers of irregular migration by improving conditions so people do not feel compelled to leave their homes. Officially it is known as Root Causes Strategy and the U.S. government has dedicated an astounding $4 billion to it, though it clearly is not working.
Illegal immigration is at an all-time high since Biden became president, shattering annual, quarterly, and monthly records that were once unimaginable. In fiscal year 2022 a record 2.4 million illegal aliens entered the country through Mexico, a major increase from an already high of 1.73 million in 2021. More than half a million of the 2022 migrants were nationals of the northern triangle, illustrating the ineffectiveness of Harris’s multi-billion-dollar project. They included 228,000 Guatemalans, 199,000 Hondurans, and 93,000 Salvadorans. In fiscal year 2023 a ghastly 2.48 million illegal aliens entered the U.S through Mexico and, unbelievably, 2024 is on track to surpass that. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) records recently published in a congressional report show that the agency recorded 256,094 encounters nationwide in February, accounting for the worst February for illegal immigration in decades. “Since President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took office, there have been 9 million encounters nationwide and over 7.4 million encounters at the Southwest border,” the congressional report states, referring to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief Alejandro Mayorkas.
The vice president’s Central American experiment has not deterred migrants from the three countries receiving the extra U.S. humanitarian aid, CBP figures show. For instance, there has been an increase in illegal immigrants from Guatemala in each of the first four months of this fiscal year compared to 2023. In each of the years after the cash started rolling under the Root Causes Strategy government figures show that the U.S. has encountered hundreds of thousands of migrants from Guatemala, illustrating that the program is failing. That has not stopped Uncle Sam from cutting checks, however. Just this week, during a meeting with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, Harris announced that the U.S. will send another $170 million for development, economic, health, and security assistance for Guatemala. “This foreign assistance supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s Root Causes Strategy in Guatemala so that Guatemalans can build a more secure, prosperous, and democratic future in their home communities,” according to the press release issued days ago. The document also proclaims that “what is good for Guatemala, is good for North America, for all to be more secure and prosper.”
Undocumented migration from the northern triangle countries to the United States has been steadily increasing over the past 30 years, accelerating at times, according to the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations financial agency that works to reduce poverty. Deploying billions of dollars is clearly not the solution, though the Biden administration seems to have no intention of stopping. In its most recent update on the U.S. strategy for addressing the root cause of migration in central America, the White House appears to claim success even as government figures show otherwise. The update applauds Harris for leading the implementation of the program, which tackles the drivers of irregular migration by improving conditions in the three countries. That includes addressing economic insecurity and inequality, combating corruption, promoting human rights, and countering violence. “These efforts provide hope and opportunity to the people of Central America, affirming that a secure and prosperous future lies in their home communities,” the White House update states. In the meantime, a record number of migrants from the northern triangle are crossing the Mexican border into the U.S.
