Biden asks Congress to invest US$861 million in Central America and US$10 billion more for refugees

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – U.S. President Joe Biden today asked Congress to invest US$861 million in Central America to curb irregular immigration, in addition to US$10 billion to help refugees and displaced persons around the world.

In his initial fiscal year 2022 federal budget proposal, a preview of the full request to be unveiled by the White House in the coming weeks, Biden called for “revitalizing” assistance to Central America at a time of soaring undocumented arrivals at the U.S. southern border.

The US$861 million included in the proposal are a “first step” to fulfill Biden’s plan to invest US$4 billion in the region within four years, something he promised during his election campaign, explained the White House in an official document.

“These resources will help the United States (…) strengthen the accountability of (Central American) governments to provide more services and more security by curbing endemic corruption, preventing violence, reducing poverty, and expanding economic development opportunities,” the White House said.

Biden believes this will help address the “root causes of irregular migration” that underlie apprehensions at the border with Mexico having reached their highest level in 20 years in March, while an all-time high in the arrival of unaccompanied minors was recorded.

Biden’s initiative, which is certain to be modified by Congress before being approved, also includes funds to reform the asylum system in the United States, eroded under President Donald Trump’s term in office (2017-2021).

Domestically, the White House wants to allocate US$891 million to hire 100 new immigration judges and teams to support them, to reduce the notable backlog in processing asylum applications from undocumented arrivals.

An additional US$345 million would be sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to speed up the resolution of asylum and naturalization cases of immigrants who have been parked for years.

Biden’s bill also includes “more than $10 billion in humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable populations abroad, including refugees, victims of conflict and other displaced persons,” according to the White House.

Biden has proposed that the United States admit up to 125,000 refugees in the fiscal year 2022, which begins in October 2021, eight times more than the limit of 15,000 Trump imposed, but he has drawn criticism for not allowing more displaced people into the country during his first months in office.

The document released Friday, April 9, does not detail how funds for refugees or the US$861 million allocated to Central America would be distributed. Still, those doubts will be resolved when the White House publishes its complete budget proposal in the coming weeks, an official source explained to Efe.

In total, this initial request – focused on discretionary and non-mandatory federal government spending – calls for US$1.5 trillion for the next fiscal year, an increase of 8.4% over the levels approved by Congress for the current period.

Of this, US$753 billion will be devoted to defense spending and another US$769 billion to non-Pentagon items, including combating the climate crisis, bolstering global public health, and a more than 40% increase in the Department of Education’s budget.

Source: EFE