'Do Not Come': VP Harris Finally Makes First Trip to Central America as Migrant Crisis Escalates
Three months after being assigned to solve the immigrant crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris is finally on the move. But she's still not headed to the U.S. southern border.
Her trip hit a snag before her plane even got off the ground. On the first leg of her two-day trip to Latin America, a technical issue forced her plane to return to Washington shortly after takeoff. She continued on in a different plane.
Monday morning, she arrived in Guatemala City to meet with President Alejandro Giammattei. She's trying to stem the flood of migrants at the U.S. southern border during her trip to Latin America. Monday she delivered a strong message in Guatemala.
"I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border," Harris said.
Tuesday, she travels to Mexico to meet President Obrador. The Biden administration aims to stem the flood of migrants at our border by addressing violence and poverty in their home countries.
It's Harris's first trip to the region since Biden put her in charge of the border crisis 12 weeks ago.
Border agents took 111,000 single adult migrants into custody in April – the most in more than a decade. Preliminary figures show those numbers increased even more in May.
Harris has signaled her plan involves creating opportunities and improving living conditions in the region through humanitarian and economic aid. She said the U.S. plans to give $310 million to provide support for refugees and address food shortages in Central America. And a dozen organizations have indicated they'll help promote economic opportunity and job training in the Northern Triangle countries.
Meanwhile, Harris also told Giammattei and López Obrador that the U.S. will send 500,000 doses and 1 million doses, respectively, of COVID-19 vaccine to their countries.
