Vice President Kamala Harris will meet virtually Monday with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei to discuss solutions to the surge of migration, and she'll visit the region in June, a senior White House official told Axios.
Why it matters: The administration is taking a multi-pronged approach to solving the problem and also hopes to announce details about its plan for investing aid in Central America on Monday — although a final dollar amount has yet to be decided.
- Harris has been tapped to lead the U.S. negotiations with Central American countries.
- She and President Giammattei last spoke on March 30th. One of the topics for Monday's meeting will be relief needs of Guatemalans, the official said.
- The next day, Harris will participate in a virtual roundtable with representatives from Guatemalan community-based organizations, hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City.
The big picture: President Biden and his team have said that to stem migration from the Northern Triangle to the U.S.-Mexico border, they must address the "root causes," including government corruption, poverty and violence.
- The approach mirrors tactics employed by the Obama administration following the 2014 child migrant crisis.
- It's also a sharp departure from the deterrent policies preferred by the Trump administration.
- Still, the Biden administration came to an agreement with Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala earlier this month, triggering a surge of security forces at the countries' borders to help slow migration toward the United States.
