Real Clear Politics
Nearly two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris told Central Americans considering making the perilous journey to the United States not to come because they can “find hope at home,” the U.S. Embassy in Honduras put out a starkly different message.
“Refugee resettlement in the United States is being restored to offer hope and a safe haven to people fleeing persecution,” the embassy said in a tweet written in Spanish celebrating Thursday’s World Refugee Day. “A more inclusive world will allow people to take care of ourselves, learn and shine.”
...The mixed immigration messaging is continuing amid a U.S. government social media and radio ad campaign in Central America trying to dissuade immigrants from making the journey. “Don’t put your kids’ lives at risk based on false hopes,” one man advises another in one radio spot before a narrator steps in to say that people can get ahead by remaining in their home countries.
The administration says the ads have reached at least 7 million Central Americans via 133 radio stations, but there’s no evidence they’re having an impact. More than 170,000 illegal immigrants were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border in May, the third straight month that number was exceeded, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. It’s also the most recorded border encounters since 2000.
...The only problem is that the most recent model failed miserably. While vice president, Biden led a push to try to stop the surge of illegal immigrants at the border by sending $3 billion in humanitarian aid to Central America — an effort to stabilize the region, fight corruption and create significant economic opportunities for the poor. But none of those goals were ever achieved. Now Biden is repeating the same play, tapping Harris to lead the effort and seeking to provide $4 billion in U.S. aid to the region over the course of the next three years.
...“It’s literally the same plan, orchestrated by the same people, for around the same amount of money – so how is it going to have different results?” asked one former veteran Washington foreign policy hand who specializes in the region and requested anonymity to speak openly on the controversial topic.
If the U.S. wants to provide humanitarian aid as a goodwill gesture, that’s one thing, the source said. But expecting an influx of U.S. funds and programming to curb illegal immigration without a security side of the equation isn’t realistic.
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