Guatemalan Officials Blame Biden for Border Crisis, Warn of Migrant Caravans Heading for Border Ahead of Midterms
Top Guatemalan officials are calling on President Joe Biden to reinforce the border before it’s too late.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei accused Biden of rejecting his country’s proposal to help end the crisis at the border.
According to The Washington Examiner, President Giammattei said he approached Administration officials with a plan for the United States to deport people heading north from Guatemala before they reach the U.S.-Mexico border but was rejected. Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to handle efforts to secure the border but she has largely seemed to ignore the role and has notably never visited the border.
“Having all of these people in the United States costs the U.S. government millions and millions of dollars. We have suggested that they should keep the airplanes here, so that we ourselves can deport them back to their countries of origin, be it Haiti or be it whatever the country,” Giammattei said in an interview in Guatemala City. “Otherwise, why wait until the people reach U.S. soil to then spend millions and millions of dollars to then send them back?”
Guatemala is only returning Honduran citizens south of its border, but Giammattei is willing to fly or bus people back to other countries. The move could deter others from making the journey through Guatemala to the U.S., knowing that they would be returned.
Giammattei said the U.S. turned down his idea of allowing Guatemala to use American planes to return people to their countries of origin on the basis that the “laws don’t allow it.”
The U.S. has a history of donating vehicles and resources to the country. Just last week, the U.S. gave Guatemala 95 vehicles to boost its border security.
Since President Biden took office nearly 4 million people have been encountered attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, a record-shattering number that doesn’t include the number of migrants that managed to evade arrest.
However, despite the record-breaking number of migrants flooding the border the Biden administration seems to lack any urgency to address the ongoing crisis. With less than two weeks until Election Day, Guatemalan Interior Minister Napoleon Barrientos is sounding the alarm on a rapid influx of migrant caravan planning to flood the border before the Midterms.
During an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Barrientos shared that an uptick in caravans are making their way to the border now out of anticipation that Republicans will retake Congress and tighten restrictions at the border.
“We have information that caravans will be coming in the next few weeks, particularly before the date of November 8. So we’re doing operations in our borders to stop the flow migration,” Barrientos said.
“The information that these migrant caravans have is that after that date, policies will be hardened,” he said.
In preparation of the caravans’ arrivals, Guatemala is staging military drills with its partners in Mexico, Barrientos explained. But the country hasn’t had as much luck at its southern border with Honduras, where illegal migrants continue to cross and where bi-lateral cooperation has been difficult.
“For that reason, Guatemala plans different actions, up until that date, to keep our borders secure, and to stop irregular migration,” he said.
