Federal agency in DOGE's crosshairs played key role in Harris’ strategy to curb migrant crisis

When the Biden medication launched its strategy to tackle "root causes" of migration astatine the southern border during a clip of rapidly rising and historical amerciable immigration, the now-frozen United States Agency for International Development (USAID) played a important role.

During the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with starring diplomacy successful Latin America to tackle the basal causes, identified arsenic issues similar pack violence, clime alteration and poverty. It consisted of some authorities initiatives and backing from backstage organizations.

USAID, which was frozen successful recent days implicit concerns astir misspending, played a cardinal relation successful the organisation of funds. While definite operations person been halted to get a afloat representation of USAID backing to the region, it is imaginable to get a glimpse of the assistance it provided.

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President Donald Trump pumps his fist arsenic helium walks to committee Air Force One astatine Joint Base Andrews successful Maryland Feb. 7, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2021, the archetypal twelvemonth of the Biden administration, USAID announced Centroamérica Local, a 5-year, $300 cardinal inaugural that funded organizations successful El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to code the basal causes of migration to the U.S.

"Under this caller initiative, Centroamérica Local, USAID intends to put up to $300 million, taxable to the availability of funds, toward engaging, strengthening, and backing section organizations to instrumentality programs to beforehand sustainable and equitable economical growth, amended governance, combat corruption, support quality rights, amended national security, and combat intersexual and gender-based violence," USAID said successful a connection astatine the time.

"These programs are being carried retired nether the Biden-Harris Administration’s Root Causes Strategy and present connected the Agency’s extremity to foster greater engagement with section organizations and communities successful El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and beforehand stableness successful the region."

More was inactive to come.

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In 2022, USAID announced programs successful Central America to extremity gender-based violence, including a $6.5 cardinal programme successful Guatemala and a $2.7 cardinal programme successful Honduras. That built disconnected a programme announced successful El Salvadaor.

In March past year, Harris met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and announced a planned concern of $135 cardinal successful USAID funding, alongside $170 cardinal to assistance development, economical wellness and information assistance.

Included successful the announcement was an enlargement of the Central American Service Corps, which was created successful 2022 astatine the Summit of Americas. The expanded programme was funded by USAID and aimed to scope 2,800 radical seen astatine astir hazard of migrating by engaging them with unpaid work, employment and training.

Also announced for Guatemala was a USAID-implemented "Feed the Future" programme to fortify the capableness of probe and acquisition entities to standard cultivation technologies and to enactment probe and acquisition related to "climate smart" agriculture.

A emblem extracurricular U.S. Agency for International Development office Feb. 3, 2025, successful Washington, D.C.  (Getty Images)

USAID was besides to instrumentality a caller "Guatemala Biodiversity Conservation" programme to beforehand the conservation of biodiversity and fortify protected areas and different areas of ecological importance.

In September, USAID announced an further $10.75 cardinal successful backing for Guatemala.

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That came aft USAID invested implicit $153 cardinal successful Guatemala successful 2023 to allegedly enactment the authorities successful efforts to fortify ideology and amended opportunities. According to a release, funded activities included "integrated agrarian and cultivation development, sustainable economical growth, enactment for the operation of climate-resilient infrastructure, and integer improvement and e-governance."

Harris was dogged by the "border czar" rubric passim her unsuccessful statesmanlike bid arsenic she mostly dropped the basal causes accent and alternatively focused connected the Biden administration’s efforts to secure the border.

President Donald Trump’s medication has demonstrated a skepticism of the basal causes strategy, some successful its leaning successful connected borderline information and interior enforcement and besides its moves to chopped oregon frost backing abroad.

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In his archetypal week successful office, Trump besides rescinded Biden's 2021 enforcement bid creating a "comprehensive determination model to code the causes of migration, to negociate migration passim North and Central America and to supply harmless and orderly processing of asylum seekers astatine the United States border."

He besides revoked an enforcement bid to rebuild and heighten programs to resettle refugees and program for "the interaction of clime alteration connected migration."