President Biden and Vice President Harris have set out an ambitious, multi-pronged approach to address the root causes of irregular migration and strengthen collaborative migration management across Central America. Yesterday’s announcement by the Vice President represents the next concrete step toward improving conditions and providing life-saving, protection-focused assistance to vulnerable people and communities throughout the region.
The Vice President’s announcement of $310 million in increased assistance in the region includes $104 million through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, $125 million through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, $26 million through the Department of Defense, and $55 million through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Our humanitarian assistance will meet the immediate needs of people forced to flee their homes in pursuit of safety, including refugees and other displaced people, and vulnerable migrants in Central America and third countries in the region. Across the region, it will support shelter and other safe spaces, work to reunite families, promote migrant and refugee integration into host communities, support delivery of and access to health care, psychosocial support, and legal assistance, and help vulnerable people and communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic among other activities.
Through international organization partners, our assistance will also continue to support the national action plans of Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS) countries – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Panama. In so doing, it will strengthen national asylum systems and other protection efforts in the region and promote opportunities for displaced people and vulnerable migrants to integrate and find solutions in communities across the region.
International cooperation is essential for effective and efficient migration management, and the United States is, and will continue to be, a reliable partner in this effort. We are the world’s largest single humanitarian donor and we urge others to join us in our commitment to support people in need across Central America.
