Creative Commons
While the brutal reign of Donald Trump is over, efforts by the United States to halt migration through Mexico from Central America and elsewhere go on. The Biden Administration is continuing to maintain pressure on the governments of the region to stem migration.
The United States border with Mexico has become the front line in the United States’ attempts to control and limit immigration.
In late February, Antony Blinken, Biden’s Secretary of State, urged residents from Central America to stop trying to make their way into the United States, saying, “The border is closed to irregular migration.”
In March, the government of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the closure of his country’s southern border for “non-essential” travel for one month, citing the threat of COVID-19. Mexico has also deployed thousands of members of the country’s military and national guard to prevent migrants from entering the country. Guatemala, too, has announced the deployment of soldiers to the border to aid in the operations to slow the flow of migrants crossing the border.
Mexican officials have said the presence of soldiers and national guard troops with military equipment is meant “to protect children,” including victims of “human trafficking,” even though many of these children are fleeing violence, dangerous living situations, and extreme poverty.
“Although [government officials say] they respect human rights, we do not see that it is real,” Ciria Villatoro González, a migrant rights advocate with the Fray Matías de Córdova Human Rights Center in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, tells The Progressive. “What is important to the state is the national security, the containing of migration, and not human rights. They are always responding to the policies of the United States.”
Since the beginning of 2021, Mexico has seen an increase in migrants seeking to reach the United States. As of March 25, according to the National Institute of Migration of Mexico, Mexico had detained 35,000 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and other countries.
In March, officials from the Biden Administration met with Mexican officials seeking to cut the flow of migrants from the countries further south. As the measures at the southern border were being announced, Mexico said it would be receiving 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the United States. This led to accusations of an exchange between Mexico and the United States to contain migration along the southern border, which were denied by both Mexican and U.S. officials, saying that the two negotiations were not linked.
The United States border with Mexico has become the front line in the United States’ attempts to control and limit immigration.
“The southern border of the United States for Guatemalans is Guatemala’s border with Mexico,” Juan José Hurtado, director of the Guatemalan migrant advocacy group Pop No’j Association, tells The Progressive. “For the rest of Central Americans, [the southern border of the United States] is Guatemala. The governments of Mexico and Guatemala are tasked with stemming migration.”
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have seen a worsening situation caused by the pandemic, recent mega storms, corruption, and the presence of criminal organizations within their governments.
“[The United States] leaves the dirty work for the governments of Guatemala and Mexico,” he adds.
Yet these measures mean migrants are being forced to take more dangerous routes and face further threats to their well-being. These threats come from criminal groups, drug traffickers, and state forces.
Governments of the region, under pressure from the United States, are increasingly looking to use their militaries and police forces to respond to “irregular migration.” Yet this, mixed with narratives of the threat of the spread of COVID-19, spurs distrust and hatred toward migrants seeking refuge.
Villatoro suggests that the March 19 closure of Mexico’s southern border was also in response to rumors of a new caravan of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing the corrupt administration of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. In late March, Guatemala declared a fifteen-day state of emergency in five departments of the country. The declaration will deploy soldiers and police to the region to block the migrants from advancing north.
While the March 2021 caravan was disbanded before it could reach Honduras’ border with Guatemala, the militarization of migratory routes reflects a threat to the safety and rights of migrants. For example, the previous caravan of more than 8,000 honduran migrants in January 2021 was met with heavy military repression by the Guatemalan police and military, who deployed tear gas and wooden poles to dismantle the caravan.
“These controls and repression do not resolve the fundamental problem,” Hurtado says.
On March 27, municipal police in the tourist destination of Tulum killed Victoria Salazar Arriaza, a thirty-six-year-old migrant from El Salvador. Days later, on March 29, Elvin Mazariegos, a Guatemalan man living on the Mexican side of the border, was shot and killed by Mexican soldiers at a checkpoint. This killing led to an outcry from Guatemalan government officials.
“[These deaths] are the result of the militarization of the border and the exacerbation of xenophobia,” Hurtado says. “Although no direct orders were given, the use of violence and brutality is encouraged in a certain way.”
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have seen a worsening situation caused by the pandemic, recent mega storms, corruption, and the presence of criminal organizations within their governments.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a close ally of the United States, is accused of being connected to drug traffickers. Guatemala has also seen an increase in the influence of narco-interests within the government.
“Violence and repression does not deter forced migration,” Hurtado says. “Congresswoman [Norma] Torres talks about the ‘narco governments’ [in Guatemala and Honduras]. It is a strong statement, but it is real. What do these governments do for the population?”
President Biden has tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts to respond to the influx of migrants seeking to reach the United States, and the State Department has named Ricardo Zúñiga as the “Northern Triangle special envoy.”
Biden has called for $4 billion to help resolve what the United States government sees as the root causes of migration. But combating corruption and working with the economic elite does little for those who live in countries like Guatemala and Honduras with extreme wealth and social inequalities.
“The people who migrate have extreme levels of hopelessness and desperation,” Hurtado says. “Changes don’t come in these governments. They have no options other than to leave.”