GUATEMALA CITY: Vice-President Joe Biden is demanding that Central American nations work with Washington to halt the cascade of illegal child migrants from the region from
reaching the southern US border.
Biden issued his blunt call on Friday in Guatemala as the White House announced new measures to speed up deportations of the child migrants, and as sharp criticism from opposition Republicans dashed any hopes of approving an immigration reform law.
“We’re approaching this issue with a shared recognition that the current situation is not sustainable,” Biden told Guatemalan President Otto Perez at a joint press appearance.
“It is unacceptable. And we have a shared responsibility to take significant steps to address this issue.”
Biden said that Central American child migrants leave their countries because of poverty, insecurity and a failure of the legal system.
Such comments likely irked Perez, who has blamed the problem on Washington’s failure to reform its immigration policy and provide a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
Biden leavened his remarks by saying he understood the “burdens” the flow of immigrants had placed on Guatemala.
But he insisted that the root cause of the problem lay in Central America.
“This is a serious humanitarian issue standing alone all by itself, and ... it is a fundamentally shared problem for the United States, Mexico, and this entire region,” Biden said.
AFP
