据美国官员称，拜登政府正在努力“向中美洲国家提供大量人道主义援助”，并为移民提供新的“合法途径”实现历史性飞跃到达美国南部边境的移民数量。
美国副总统贺锦丽星期三对墨西哥总统说，墨西哥新政府在应对已经成为关键的安全、外交政策和政治挑战方面发挥了主导作用。
危地马拉总统上周与哈里斯交谈后，周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，美国必须与他的国家萨尔瓦多和洪都拉斯合作，“建造繁荣之墙”，鼓励移民留在家里，并加强贸易和执法合作，打击人口走私者。
“我们需要美国把我们看作他们的前院，看作他们的伙伴，”总统亚历杭德罗·贾马泰特说。“因为我们在同样的问题上是合作伙伴——他们不希望那里有非法的人，我也不希望他们离开。所以我们有一个共同的问题。大家一起解决吧。”
但是，最近几个月，随着这三个国家，统称为“北方三角”，从冠状病毒流行病，11月的两场接连致命的飓风，以及腐败、帮派暴力和贩毒等系统性问题。
明天:加入@ABCNewsLive为“希望与绝望:边境紧急情况”，由@JohnQABC在…上移居关注无人陪伴的未成年人、美国之旅和成功故事。美国东部时间晚上8点收听@hulu或者你最喜欢的流媒体设备。pic.twitter.com/g5DyPwZhpr
——ABC新闻PR(@ ABc newsr)2021年4月7日
乔·拜登总统表示，他希望在未来几年内增加美国在该地区的投资40亿美元，并赋予哈里斯与前总统巴拉克·奥巴马相同的任务，处理非正常移民问题。
贾迈蒂说，虽然白宫表示其信息是明确的，但拜登对移民的同情信息被人口走私者滥用。
“他们利用他的信息，把它转过来告诉人们，‘现在是时候了。他们会接待你的。“我们走吧，”这一信息令人困惑，”贾马提在他的第一次美国电视采访中告诉美国广播公司新闻部的约翰·奎诺内斯。
上周打电话给贾马泰特后，哈里斯周三与墨西哥总统安德烈斯·曼努埃尔·洛佩斯·奥布拉多尔进行了交谈。发言人西蒙·桑德斯(Symone Sanders)表示，这两项呼吁都侧重于合作改善经济机会和减少腐败，这是移民的关键驱动力。
目前还不清楚她是否会以及何时给洪都拉斯总统打电话，谁会呢面临指控在美国联邦法院或萨尔瓦多总统那里贩毒和接受贿赂，萨尔瓦多总统以越来越独裁的方式加强了对权力的控制与一名美国议员发生冲突本周在推特上。
桑德斯周二表示，为了开始努力，政府还实施了“人道主义援助激增”。但到目前为止，白宫还没有宣布任何新的资助。据美国国务院发言人奈德·普莱斯(Ned Price)称，迄今为止，美国已为应对11月的“埃塔”(Eta)和“伊塔”(Iota)飓风提供了1.12亿美元，并为2020财年提供了8500万美元。
但与拜登2020年总统竞选期间的40亿美元计划相比，这就相形见绌了，而且政府尚未向国会提出要求任何资金的提议。
相反，美国国际开发署宣布，它已经启动了一个灾难援助反应小组，或灾难援助反应队，部署到该地区。普莱斯周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，新团队正在评估所有三个国家的情况，并“努力减轻”挑战的“影响”，如“反复发生的干旱、严重的粮食不安全、正在进行的新冠肺炎大流行”以及埃塔和Iota飓风。
我今天与墨西哥总统洛佩斯·奥布拉多尔交谈，感谢他在移徙问题上的合作。我期待着与他合作，通过改善包括墨西哥南部在内的该地区人民的条件，解决移徙的根源。pic.twitter.com/83VjrATnI1
—贺锦丽副总裁(@VP)2021年4月7日
桑德斯说，立即的反应可能有助于阻止移民的前进，因为“帮助了他们所在地区的人民。”
但贾马提说，真正需要的是长期投资，以及美国政府在促进与私营部门关系方面的帮助。危地马拉总统对美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)的约翰·奎诺恩斯(John Quinones)表示，美国应该放松进口限制，以促进危地马拉的商业发展，包括鳄梨和浆果、服装和个人防护设备。
他还呼吁加强执法合作，要求美国将人口走私定为联邦犯罪，并建议扩大危地马拉与美国的引渡条约，以起诉美国所谓的“郊狼”。
贾迈泰补充说，美国还必须增加进入该国的合法途径，如扩大临时工作签证，为儿童提供合法身份，以便与已经在美国的父母团聚。拜登政府已经表示正在努力做到这一点。
美国北三角特使里卡多·苏尼加(Ricardo ZúIgA)周二在危地马拉首都会见政府官员和民间社会领导人后表示:“我们在这里还讨论了白宫为移民创造合法途径的必要性和努力，以便人们不必使用不规则和非常危险的途径。”。
苏尼加与危地马拉外交部长佩德罗·布罗罗站在一起，称赞该国官员“令人印象深刻”...合作精神。”
国务院尚未表示他指的是哪种“路径”，发言人普莱斯将问题提交给白宫。白宫拒绝置评。
但是拜登上个月告诉美国广播公司新闻他的政府正致力于为寻求庇护者建立一个在家申请的程序。
“做你的案子。我们会派人去那里确定你是否符合申请避难的条件。这是最好的方法，”拜登告诉美国广播公司新闻记者乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯。
庇护是一种法律地位，只有当某人到达另一个国家的领土，并对他们的案件进行裁决，以确定他们是否面临回国的可信威胁时，才能申请庇护，而不是难民地位，在难民地位中，一个人逃离自己的祖国，从第三国申请，经过审查，并可以被批准重新安置。
政府希望允许人们在自己的国家申请庇护身份，这可能会阻止一些潜在的旅行者试图穿越美国南部边境。但一些专家反驳说，大多数庇护申请人都在紧急逃离暴力或威胁，仍然会北上，而不是等待申请过程。
“如果程序变得更容易，我们可以让那些被允许与家人团聚的孩子，而不是非法移民的孩子，在他们将自己置于危险之中之前，”贾马泰特告诉美国广播公司新闻。
拜登政府已经宣布恢复一个项目来实现这一目标。由奥巴马政府创建的中美洲未成年人计划给予父母已经合法居住在美国的18岁及以下儿童合法身份
特朗普政府关闭了该项目，最终因其行为输掉了一场联邦诉讼，并被迫接受了2000多名正在申请的申请人。尽管这些申请人仍在接受审查，但仍没有消息表明美国何时会再次接受新的申请。
与此同时，“美国边境已经关闭，”苏尼加周二重申。他星期三离开危地马拉前往萨尔瓦多，但他和他的代表团不会访问洪都拉斯。美国国务院表示，这并不是向洪都拉斯总统胡安·奥兰多·埃尔南德斯发出信号。埃尔南德斯在纽约的一次贩毒和贿赂审判中被指为“同谋”，但尚未被起诉。
“我预计将与洪都拉斯外交部长会晤，他将在他们返回后访问美国。正如我们以前说过的，我们对洪都拉斯人民目前面临的挑战深感关切，”普莱斯周一告诉美国广播公司新闻，拒绝透露埃尔南德斯本人是否是这些挑战之一。
Guatemala's president calls for US to help 'build a wall of prosperity'
The Biden administration is working "to surge humanitarian assistance to" Central American countries and to offer new "legal paths" for migration, according to U.S. officials, as it tries tomanage a historic jumpin the number of migrants reaching the southern U.S. border.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to Mexico's president Wednesday as she takes the lead for the new administration in addressing what has become a critical security, foreign policy, and political challenge.
After speaking to Harris last week, Guatemala's president told ABC News Wednesday that the U.S. must work with his country, El Salvador and Honduras "to build walls of prosperity" that encourage migrants to stay home and to increase cooperation on trade and law enforcement against human smugglers.
"We need the United States to see us as their front yard, as their partner," said President Alejandro Giammattei. "Because we are partners in the same problems -- they don't want illegal people there, and I don't want them to leave. So we have a common problem. Let's solve it together."
But a staggering number of people have made that journey in recent months, as the three countries, known collectively as the "Northern Triangle," reel from thecoronaviruspandemic, two back-to-back deadly hurricanes in November, and systemic issues like corruption, gang violence and drug trafficking.
TOMORROW: Join@ABCNewsLivefor “Hope & Desperation: Emergency at the Border,” a special anchored by@JohnQABConimmigrationwith a focus on unaccompanied minors, the journey to the U.S. and success stories. Tune in at 8PM ET on@huluor your favorite streaming device.pic.twitter.com/g5DyPwZhpr
— ABC News PR (@ABCNewsPR)April 7, 2021
President Joe Biden has said he wants to boost U.S. investment in the region by $4 billion over several years, assigning Harris the same task he was given by former President Barack Obama to deal with irregular migration.
While the White House has said its message is clear, Biden's messages of compassion for immigrants have been misused by human smugglers, according to Giammattei.
"They used his message and turned it around to tell people, 'Now is the time. They will receive you. Let's go.' The message is confusing," Giammattei told ABC News' John Quinones in his first U.S. television interview.
After calling Giammattei last week, Harris spoke to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Wednesday. Both calls focused on cooperating to improve economic opportunities and reduce corruption, key drivers of migration, according to spokesperson Symone Sanders.
It's unclear if and when she'll call Honduras' president, who hasfaced allegationsof narcotrafficking and accepting bribes in U.S. federal court, or El Salvador's president, who has tightened his grip on power in increasingly authoritarian ways andskirmished with a U.S. lawmakerthis week on Twitter.
To kick start its efforts, Sanders said Tuesday, the administration has also implemented a "surge in humanitarian assistance." But so far, the White House has not announced any new funding. To date, the U.S. has provided $112 million in response to November's Hurricanes Eta and Iota, as well as $85 million for fiscal year 2020, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
But that pales in comparison to Biden's $4 billion plan during his 2020 presidential campaign, and the administration has yet to put forth a proposal for Congress to request any funds.
Instead, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced it has launched a disaster assistance response team, or DART, to deploy to the region. The new team is assessing conditions in all three countries and "working to mitigate the impact" of challenges like "recurrent drought, severe food insecurity, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic" and Hurricanes Eta and Iota, Price told ABC News Wednesday.
I spoke with President López Obrador of Mexico today to thank him for his cooperation on migration issues. I look forward to working with him to address the root causes of migration by improving conditions for people in the region, including in southern Mexico.pic.twitter.com/83VjrATnI1
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP)April 7, 2021
The immediate response may help stem the march of migrants, according to Sanders, by "helping the people of the region where they are."
But Giammattei said what is really needed is long-term investment -- and help from the U.S. government in fostering ties with the private sector. The Guatemalan president told ABC News' John Quinones that the U.S. should loosen import restrictions in order to boost Guatemalan businesses, including avocados and berries, clothing and personal protective equipment.
He also called for increased cooperation on law enforcement, requested the U.S. make human smuggling a federal crime and suggested expanding Guatemala's extradition treaty with the U.S. to prosecute so-called "coyotes" in America.
The U.S. must also increase legal paths to enter the country, Giammattei added, like expanding temporary work visas and providing children legal status to be reunited with parents already in the U.S. -- something the Biden administration has already said it is working on.
"We are here to also discuss the need and the efforts of the White House to create legal paths for migration, so that people don't have to use irregular and very dangerous paths," Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, said Tuesday after meeting government officials and civil society leaders in the capital of Guatemala City.
Standing with Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo, Zúñiga praised the country's officials for an "impressive ... spirit of cooperation."
The State Department has not yet said what kinds of "paths" he was referring to, with spokesperson Price referring questions to the White House. The White House declined to comment.
ButBiden told ABC News last monththat his administration is working to set up a process for asylum seekers to apply from home.
"Make your case. We'll have people there to determine whether or not you are able to meet the requirement to qualify for asylum. That's the best way to do this," Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
Asylum is a legal status that can only be claimed when someone reaches another country's territory and has their case adjudicated to see if they face a credible threat back home -- as opposed to refugee status, where one flees one's home country, applies from a third country, is vetted, and can be approved for resettlement.
The administration hopes that allowing folks to apply for asylum status in their home country may discourage some would-be travelers from trying to cross the southern U.S. border. But some experts counter that most asylum applicants are urgently fleeing violence or threats and would still make the journey north, instead of waiting through an application process.
"If the processes are made easier, we could have, instead of illegal migrant children, children who have permission to be reunited with their families -- before they put themselves at risk," Giammattei told ABC News.
The Biden administration has announced the resumption of a program to do that. Created by the Obama administration, theCentral American Minors programgrants legal status to children 18 and younger who have a parent already legally in the U.S.
The program was shut down by the Trump administration, which ultimately lost a federal lawsuit for its actions and was forced to accept over 2,000 applicants who had been in the pipeline. While those applicants continue to be processed, there's still no word on when the U.S. will begin taking new applications again.
In the meantime, "The Border of the United States is closed," Zúñiga reiterated Tuesday. He left Guatemala for El Salvador Wednesday, but he and his delegation will not visit Honduras. The State Department said it is not meant as a signal to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has been named as a "co-conspirator" in a narco-trafficking and bribery trial in New York, but has not been indicted.
"There will be a meeting, I expect, with the Honduran foreign minister, who will be visiting the United States upon their return. As we've said before, we are deeply concerned about the challenges that the people of Honduras are facing right now," Price told ABC News on Monday, declining to say whether Hernandez himself is one of those challenges.
