Kamala Harris pledged to address the “root causes” of migration in a virtual bilateral meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday.
Harris spoke with the Guatemalan president over Zoom on Monday as she prepares to meet with Guatemalan community-based organizations on Tuesday before traveling to Guatemala and Mexico in June.
Related Story: US to send $310M to Central America, train Guatemala ‘task force’
During the meeting, Harris identified poverty, extreme weather conditions, corruption and violence against women, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people and Afro-descendants as factors driving people to flee Guatemala, saying the United States would increase relief and strengthen cooperation to “manage migration in an effective, secure and humane manner.”
“We want to work with you to address both the acute causes as well as the root causes in a way that will bring hope to the people of Guatemala that there will be an opportunity for them if they stay at home,” she said.
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Monday’s meeting came as the U.S. Department of State announced sanctions against Gustavo Alejos, who served as chief of staff for former Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom from 2008 to 2012, and current elected delegate to the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala Felipe Alejos.
The two reportedly facilitated payments to congressional representatives and judges in efforts to influence the selection process for magistrates to Guatemala’s courts to secure favorable rulings protecting Gustavo Alejos from corruption charges.
“These sanctions support efforts by the people of Guatemala to end the scourge of corruption, as part of the U.S. government’s commitment to support improvements in governance in Guatemala,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Neither Harris nor Giammattei referenced the sanctions during the opening statements before the meeting.
Giammattei called for the United States and Guatemala to develop a “roadmap” between their governments to “ensure peace, progress and development,” adding that the Guatemalan government wishes to be partners to “eradicate not only poverty, but the causes of so many evils that afflict us.”
“When I hear you speak of placing human beings at the center of things, I can only congratulate myself and you for adopting such a position,” he said. “Because we seem to have forgotten that we need to fight to preserve the life of all members of our society — all members.”
President Joe Biden last month appointed Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to stem immigration at the southern U.S. border, tasking her to meet with the leaders of Mexico and the northern triangle of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, amid an influx of unaccompanied minors at U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities.
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Harris and Biden should be telling Central America Don’t waste your time crossing illegally ,America has NOTHING FREE for you. No free food, no free housing , no free, education, and no free medical. Most of all NO JOBS !
Problem is, the “migrants” know none of that is true. They WILL get all that “free” stuff, and then some more on top of that. Money is no problem. The U.S. taxpayer will foot the bill. This past January, I got an $18/month raise in my Social Security after a lifetime of work AND PAYING INTO THE SYSTEM. That was immediately erased when Babbling Biden pulled the plug on the oil pipeline, and the price of gas sky-rocketed. But money is no object, no problem, for millions who have snuck into the country illegally. Free education, free housing, free food, free medical care, free this, free that. The list of all the “free” stuff that WE, THE PEOPLE are paying for is endless. The dem-rats see them as future voters, and that’s ALL that matters to them.
Exactly. AS LONG AS illegal invaders KEEP GETTING CODDLED AT our expense, they will KEEP FLOODING INTO our nation, and be welcomed by the commucrats…
These illegal aliens are draining our tax dollars and our resources… This nightmare in the white house needs to suck up their hate and put Trump’s policies back in place…
BETTER YET< when we deport all the illegals, SEND THESE LIBTARD HACKS Right along with them!
THAT is the biggest reason they are coming here… FREE STUFF.. FREE MEDICAL, FREE SCHOOLING, … They come here AT OUR EXPENSE… AND
THIS NIGHTMARE OF A VP will NOT stop catering to these illegal aliens and they will NOT shut down the border to them… they will continue to encourage them to flood our country…. NO amount of money given to that country’s government is going to stop these people from flooding into our country!! THEY NEED TO PUT TRUMP’S POLICIES BACK IN PLACE!!!!! AND STOP CATERING TO THEM!!!!
The People in Guatemala will be laughing for years over that cackling, head bobbing boob some call the VP. It seems to have taken her over 3 weeks to gear up for it so expect nothing but prattle and inaction . What a cruel joke on this great country , now in peril .
They have to be some kind of extremely STUPID to think giving this country money is going to STOP these illegal aliens from flooding our country… This nightmare of an administration needs to put Trump’s policies back in place… He was getting the flow of illegal aliens slowed down.. .. AS long as these idiots keep catering to these illegal aliens and allowing them to remain in the country, handing them more and more of OUR rights and benefits, they are going to keep on coming here illegally… They are entering the country AT OUR EXPENSE by the thousands EVERY day… they are draining our tax dollars and our resources… HOW LONG BEFORE OUR COUNTRY COLLAPSES UNDER THE STRAIN!!!?? GOD HELP US ALL AS THIS NIGHTMARE OF AN ADMINISTRATION BRINGS OUR COUNTRY DOWN
Yep, Joe and Kamala, use our taxpayer money to give to dictators so they can line their pockets, line their relatives pockets and line the pockets of their cronies, and that will certainly stop illegal aliens coming to the United States. If one is foolish enough to believe the above, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn for free! Open borders means cheap labor, votes for the Democrats, drugs and gangs in our Country. Traitors in Washington DC or how the politicians sold out our Country.
This is why i keep wanting to have the power to errect a full on DEATH FIELD over the entire border of our nation.. SO EVERY illegal invader that dares cross it, gets fried into a pile of ash, ON THE SPOT…
While all those things (poverty, extreme weather conditions, corruption and violence against women, Indigenous people, LGBTQ people and Afro-descendants), are, indeed, factors in why people want to LEAVE Guatemala, the Root Cause for them coming to the United States is Biden/Harris policies (stopping construction of the border wall, stopping enforcement of our Immigration Laws, giving illegal aliens a “pathway to citizenship”, giving illegal aliens free education, healthcare, welfare)!
If you want to STOP them from coming HERE, then stop WELCOMING them here!
TILL WE get rid of EVERY DAMN Democrat in office EVERYWHERE< that will unfortunately, never happen.
I’ve been trying to tell our stupid politicians this for years… WE continue to encourage more and more to flood the country by letting them stay here and handing out all the free stuff to them AT OUR EXPENSE!!!! Giving the country money to stop their citizens from flooding into our country will NOT stop them… THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THEM IS SHUT DOWN THE BORDER… DEPORT ANYONE WHO CROSSES ILLEGALLY, IMMEDIATELY… DO NOT CATER TO THEM WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!!! Right now, we are spending over $60 million of OUR tax dollars taking care of people who do NOT belong in this country… ALL OF THEM, need to be sent back where they came from and told they are NOT welcome here unless they enter our country LEGALLY!!!! This nightmare in the white house has destroyed the sovereignty of our country with their open borders so the world can enter as they please…. PUT TRUMP’S POLICIES BACK IN PLACE..!!!?? Claiming asylum because they want a job is NOT a valid reason!!!!
The state of Georgia shares the blame with Biden they voted for two communists Senators. I hope they will welcome all the aliens that take their jobs. They can also start celebrating when gas reaches $7.00 a gallon.
Which is why when i heard that they lost so much money from the NBA boycotts, i didn’t have as much sympathy FOR craplanta, as i should have had.
Moron Harris is going to “fix” every Latin American country pouring its illiterates into the US rather than close the US border? Could anyone be stupider?
YES, the head nightmare occupying the white house… we have an administration with NO BRAINS!!!
Root cause? LOL. Look in the mirror. You’ll see Joe and other democrats in the reflection.
AND if their ‘root causes’ are gang crime and ‘climate change’ is she REALLY TRYING TO SAY America is NOT SUFFERING ANY GANG violence or issues from climate change???
Our boat has a hole in it, and we’re shortly going to all drown if we don’t plug the hole. Kamala Harris Is going to ask the boat builder to start building boats with stronger bottoms.
THese dems are trying to make that hole BIGGER.
Harris is no “border czar” but VP for Latin America at the expense of US taxpayers who are idiots if they voted for Dems.
Why must we involve Guatemala, when the issue is with the idiots in the Whitehouse?
Deflecting from the real problem, which isn’t Guatemala. People from more than 60 countries have been caught trying to cross the border.
60? I think you are way low on that #…
The REAL problem is the nightmare of an administration who cancelled ALL the good that Trump did, opened our borders so everyone can enter who wants to come in AT OUR EXPENSE… The nightmare in the white house along with his cult of radical democRATS are kicking the American people in the teeth as they cater to and coddle the illegal aliens.. AS long as they continue to cater to these illegal aliens, taking care of their needs AT OUR EXPENSE, they are going to continue flooding our country by the thousands… NO amount of money paid to these countries is going to stop their people from coming here…. the ONLY way to stop it, is to CLOSE THE BORDERS… SEND ALL BACK IMMEDIATELY WHEN THEY ILLEGALLY CROSS THE BORDER… STOP CATERING TO THEM WITH OUR MONEY… THEY ARE DRAINING OUR TAX DOLLARS AND OUR RESOURCES… TELL THEM THEY ARE NOT WELCOME HERE UNLESS THEY COME LEGALLY!!!! GOD HELP US ALL AS THESE IDIOTS IN THIS NIGHTMARE OF AN ADMINISTRATION ARE WORKING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY!!!!
The term “root cause” has long been used as a way to avoid dealing with actual problems. The illegal immigration problem has been aggravated due to the administration’s policies of open borders and free stuff. This is so obvious that it makes the conclusion that the problem was desired obvious.
It’s called FREE STUFF! Come here, sneak past GO, don’t go to jail, get housed in a hotel that ordinary citizens paying taxes can’t afford, kids get public education and perks kids here don’t. Come on down, the PRICE is right!
DUH!!–it’s called WIDE OPEN BORDER, it’s called abetting law breakers, it’s called reneging on your oath of office to protect your country–no rocket science, no STUDY needed but it will keep the laughing, braying hyena busy when she’s not tripping up the podium steps and braying about that too. What a pathetic, disgusting joke.
Kamala Harris pledged to address the “root causes”
The root cause is they know the Radical Left will hand them anything they want as long as they vote ‘the right way’. At the taxpayers expense of course.
To make it easier for you, You are the root cause.
I’m just a Trump deplorable, so I ain’t got much sense, but do you reckon it could be due to the Biden administration open border policy? Duh>>
HEY VP HARRIS!!! I can tell you what the root cause is… handing these illegal aliens free education, free medical, free care, etc… AT OUR EXPENSE!!! ALONG with YOUR STUPID open border policy allowing the illegal aliens to flood the country and NOT deporting them back where they came from with the understanding that they are NOT welcome here unless they come LEGALLY!!! YOU HARRIS along with the nightmare in the white house ARE THE ROOT CAUSE!!!! PUT TRUMP’S POLICIES BACK IN PLACE!!!! These people have NO right to cross into our country illegally AT OUR EXPENSE… THEY ARE DRAINING OUR TAX DOLLARS AND OUR RESOURCES!!!! YOU, Harris and nightmare Biden keep on catering to them and coddling them while you kick the American people in the back.. NO AMOUNT OF MONEY to these countries are going to stop the illegal aliens from flooding the country… you have to be some kind of extremely stupid to even think that… YOU and Nightmare Biden ARE THE PROBLEM NOW!!! YOU OPENED OUR BORDER AND INVITED THEM ALL IN FROM AROUND THE WORLD!!!! YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR COUTNRY … !!! GOD HELP US ALL AS YOU DESTROY THE COUNTRY!!!! YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THIS COUNTRY!!!
“I can tell you what the root cause is…”
You left out CASH PAYMENTS!
We were told that cameltoe would take care of issues at the border. Now, she has talked herself into a cushy job as a useless bureaucratic foreign “diplomat.” In the meantime no-one is working to correct the myriad issues AT the border! Smuggling of dope, guns, people stored in unsanitary and unhealthy and overcrowded holding cells with covid 19, TB and other diseases spreading like wildfire! Illegals are being released into the USA without health checks and/or clearances. Many of them are sick and biden is releasing them like “Typhoid Marys!” This whole thing is a ticking time bomb without anyone making solid corrective actions. A typical dermocrap program…when it doesn’t work just ignore it and hope it’ll fix itself.
We were told that cameltoe would take care of issues at the border.
Actually we were told she was “the best person for the job”. The job was to do nothing, look busy while hiding.
It just has to drag on until the GOP has been not only snipped but put on an estrogen IV and “voted out” permanently.
IF She’s the “BEST” they have, i’d hate to see who they would have thought would be the worst?!
Guatemala is a country known for mudslides, earthquakes, and volcanos. We can only hope that will happen while Choo Choo Kamala is there.
Maybe one could errupt RIGHT UNDER HER.
Those millions being sent South will never see the light of day, it’ll be lining the pockets of those corrupt politicians…and the issues will be status quo.
NAME me one nation we’ve sent “AID to” that EVER had more than 60% of it reach the needy that we sent the aid for?? Here’s a hint, YOU CAN’T!
As I see it the issue isn’t why they are leaving. It’s why they are coming here in droves.
Socialists love to give away your money! Here it is the cost of doing the business….the future vote business.
STOP! These are not migrants, period. They are people trying to enter this country illegally. There is a reasonable, legal process in place which is basically the same as the rest of the world. Trying to bypass that process is breaking the law. When you break the law, you are doing something illegal. How hard is it to understand that?
Being corrupt law breakers themselves, Dem politicians prefer the same in their voters.
In 2019 alone, Guatemala alone, got $157 million US tax-dollars. https://explorer.usaid.gov/cd/GTM
IF we added up all the “Foreign aid” we have sent, SOUTH OF the border, and had instead USED THAT MONEY TO pay down our debt, i wonder how much of it, we could have knocked off??
The Hussein Administration was giving these countries $500 Billion dollars a year to keep their citizens at home. President Donald J Trump saw we were throwing money at a problem with NO success. The regimes were not using the money as intended—–Big Surprise! He ended that wasteful endeavor, rightfully so, and was met with uproar from our Marxist Communist DemocRATS, as well as the countries in question. What did OUR True President Do? He told these countries what to do to earn the money. Stop the migration at THEIR borders! Guess what?? It worked. Along with the border wall, and agreements with the countries, including Mexico, illegal entry was drastically curtailed. Quid Pro Quo Senile Joe ended that on his first day. Now, look where we are at. It is no longer just a crisis, it’s an Invasion sanctioned by the Marxist Left Wingnuts!!!!
Haven’t Biden, Harris and the DNC been saying all those reasons for leaving Guatemala are the exact same evils they will find here in America? Why make them come here?
The Border Czar, is still trying to find the border, she’s called WillieBrown, but he respectfully declined to help her…
I doubt she’d find a toilet if someone didn’t lead her to it… THat’s how brainless she is.
“This is de ja vu all over again!” When slo jo was veep, bo sent him to central America to find out the “root” cause of the migration to the US! Slo jo went, investigated, and came back with no solid answers. (He probably just shrugged his shoulders and said “I dunno.”) He did leave $4 Billion US dollars down there to correct the problems he couldn’t find! That money ended up in the pockets of cartels, crooked politicians and other shady characters!
THE PEOPLE NEVER SAW A DIME OF OUR TAX MONEY!
Now, he sending his veep, the ho, down there, with another bag of US bucks on the same mission he failed at years ago! DO NOT expect different results this time around. This is just another way for the dems to look busy while doing nothing as they pour more of our tax dollars down the sewer!
ONLY 44 months to go!