Developments
Guatemala’s reformist new president, Bernardo Arévalo, visited the White House yesterday, where he met separately with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Migration was a central topic in both of Arévalo’s conversations.
Arévalo and Harris reportedly discussed “providing lawful pathways to migrants, increasing cooperation on border enforcement, and… U.S. support for Guatemala’s migration management efforts.” A White House release stated that the Biden administration plans to provide Guatemala with an additional $170 million in security and development assistance, pending congressional notification.
Vice President Harris touted the administration’s “Root Causes Strategy,” which she claimed has created 70,000 new jobs, helped up to 63,000 farmers, supported 3 million student’ education, and trained more than 18,000 police officers and 27,000 judicial operators in Central America.
The leaders announced no changes to the U.S.-backed “Safe Mobility Office” (SMO) in Guatemala that links some would-be migrants to legal pathways. The prior administration of President Alejandro Giammattei (whose U.S. visa has since been revoked amid corruption allegations) had reduced the SMO’s scope to serve only citizens of Guatemala.
- Fact Sheet: Vice President Harris Announces New Initiatives to Strengthen the U.S.-Guatemala Relationship and Address the Root Causes of Migration From Guatemala (The White House, Monday, March 25, 2024).
- Fact Sheet: Update on the U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America (The White House, Monday, March 25, 2024).
- “Remarks by Vice President Harris and President Bernardo Arevalo of the Republic of Guatemala Before Bilateral Meeting” (The White House, March 25, 2024).
- “Readout of Vice President Harris’s Meeting With President Arevalo of Guatemala” (The White House, March 25, 2024).
- “Readout of President Biden’s Meeting With President Bernardo Arevalo of Guatemala” (The White House, March 25, 2024).
- Sergio Morales, “Encuentro Harris-Arevalo se Centra en Oportunidades y Migracion” (La Hora (Guatemala), March 25, 2024).
- Chris Megerian, Colleen Long, “Biden and Harris Discuss Migration in Separate White House Meetings With Guatemalan Leader Arevalo” (Associated Press, Associated Press, March 25, 2024).
- Luisa Laguardia, “Migracion e Inversiones en Dialogo de Kamala Harris y Arevalo” (Expediente Publico, March 25, 2024).
- “Ee. Uu. Aumenta en US$170 Millones los Fondos para Frenar la Migracion de Guatemala” (ACAN-EFE, Prensa Libre (Guatemala), March 25, 2024).
Despite a crushing backlog of cases, the number of U.S. immigration judges actually declined in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, from 734 to 725. That means “each judge has 3,836 cases on average,” pointed out Kathleen Bush-Joseph of the Migration Policy Institute. (That number is greater if one uses TRAC Immigration’s higher estimate of the immigration court backlog.)
- “Kathleen Bush-Joseph @kathleenbushjo2 on Twitter” (Twitter, March 25, 2024).
In less than three years, Texas state law enforcement has arrested 13,000 migrants under the framework of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) so-called “Operation Lone Star.” About three quarters of the arrests are for misdemeanor trespassing. Texas has carried out these arrests and imprisonments even without S.B. 4, a pending law that—if courts allow it to proceed—would empower Texas law enforcement to arrest, jail, and deport people on suspicion of crossing the border improperly.
- “Amrutha Jindal @Amruthajindal on Twitter” (Twitter, March 25, 2024).
Now that Congress has approved a 2024 federal budget, Arizona community leaders are wondering when funds will arrive to help non-profits receiving migrants released from CBP custody at the border. Those funds are about to run out, which could lead to CBP leaving released migrants on the streets of Tucson and other Arizona border-zone cities.
- Megan Spector, “What Comes Next After Funding Was Approved for Border Communities?” (KVOA Tucson Arizona, March 25, 2024).
As Easter week begins, about 2,000 migrants participated in a “Migrant Via Crucis” march, what has become an annual event in Mexico’s southern border-zone city of Tapachula.
- Edgar H. Clemente, “About 2,000 Migrants Begin a Holy Week Walk in Southern Mexico to Raise Awareness of Their Plight” (Associated Press, Associated Press, March 25, 2024).
- Jhonatan Gonzalez, “En Chiapas, Realizan Anuncio de ‘Viacrucis del Migrante’” (Milenio (Mexico), March 25, 2024).
In a Twitter response to comments that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made in a 60 Minutes interview, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) accused Mexico’s president of “coddling cartels and demanding the United States bankroll even more mass migration into our country.” Johnson called for a revival of the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.
- “Speaker Mike Johnson @Speakerjohnson on Twitter” (Twitter, March 25, 2024).
- Jose Diaz Briseno, “Mima Amlo a Carteles, Acusa Lider Republicano” (Reforma (Mexico), March 25, 2024).
- Thomas Kika, “Marjorie Taylor Greene Rages Over Mexico’s Migrant Plan: “This Is a War”” (Newsweek, March 25, 2024).
Analyses and Feature Stories
Mexico’s government’s ability and willingness to help control migration flows make it a key player on an issue with the potential to sway the election,” a New York Times analysis found. However, “behind closed doors, some senior Biden officials have come to see [Mexican President Andrés Manuel] López Obrador as an unpredictable partner, who they say isn’t doing enough to consistently control his own southern border or police routes being used by smugglers.”
- Natalie Kitroeff, Paulina Villegas, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Who Could Sway the Outcome of the U.S. Election? Mexico’s President” (The New York Times, March 26, 2024).
At Lawfare, Ilya Somin of the Cato Institute dismantled an argument that has become increasingly mainstream among Republican politicians: that asylum seekers and other migrants crossing the border constitute an “invasion” and that states have a constitutional right to confront them with their own security forces. Somin warns that the “invasion” idea, if upheld, could allow border states “to initiate war anytime they want,” and permit the federal government to suspend habeas corpus rights.
- Ilya Somin, “Immigration Is Not Invasion” (Cato Institute, Lawfare, March 25, 2024).
On the Right
- Conn Carroll, “Remain in Mexico Is Perfectly Legal” (The Washington Examiner, March 25, 2024).