The Biden administration has sent tens of millions of dollars to Latin American countries for programs that address “root causes” of illegal immigration, all as southern border crossings hit record highs.
The Biden administration has spent at least $40 million on immigration-related projects in Latin America in fiscal year 2023 that are ostensibly supposed to help bring down illegal immigration from the region, according to a Daily Wire review of foreign spending data.
The projects have been part of the Biden administration’s strategy to pump money into the region with the goal of decreasing illegal immigration. As Biden has sent money abroad, Republican lawmakers have urged more funding for security measures at the southern border. Critics also have pointed to Biden’s loose asylum policies and revocation of Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy as key reasons for the skyrocketing border crossings.
Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a nonprofit that advocates for solutions to uncontrolled immigration, told The Daily Wire that the actual root cause of the illegal immigration crisis is the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
“The root cause of the surge of illegal immigration is the policies that the Biden administration put in place from day one, and continue to implement in spite of the fact that we’re seeing record numbers of people coming across the border. We seem to break a new record almost every month,” Mehlman said.
One initiative rolled out in fiscal year 2023 was the Alliance for Root Causes and Opportunities project, which is designed to address “the root causes that influence people from Central America to migrate to the United States through Mexico,” according to the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Mexico was allocated $5 million in 2023 for the project, which was implemented through Chemonics International, a private international development company. Another $3 million commitment to Mexico was designated for “basic education,” and $2 million was for agriculture in Mexico.
In 2023 alone, roughly 670,000 Mexicans crossed the southern border into the United States.
Another initiative, described by USAID as the “Irregular Migration Project,” sent millions of dollars to Guatemala, from where roughly 226,000 illegal immigrants into the United States have come. The purpose of the project is “addressing the root causes of irregular migration in Guatemala.”
Two grants, one for $8.5 million and the other for $2.5 million were allocated in fiscal year 2023 for Guatemala in the “good governance” sector. Another grant under the project was $2.2 million for “conflict mitigation and reconciliation,” while a fourth was $500,000 for “civil society.”
All the money is distributed with the help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations’ immigration organization that says it is “dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all.” The IOM feuded with former President Donald Trump by declining to seat his nominee to head the organization.
USAID also works with IOM on multiple projects under the “Scholarships For Educational Opportunities” banner.
“The project aims to mitigate irregular migration from El Salvador by increasing equitable access to formal educational opportunities for potential migrants and returnees to engender hope, prosperity, and positive self-worth in their lives,” the program’s description at USAID reads.
In fiscal year 2023, $4 million was designated for “basic education” in El Salvador while $2.9 million was allocated for “higher education.” There were also two grants for “private sector competitiveness,” both worth roughly $1.5 million.
Nearly 60,000 El Salvadorans illegally entered the United States in 2023.
Haiti, which has seen an epidemic of gang violence and civil disorder this year, was given two grants of $3.6 million and $2.7 million for “good governance” and “policies, regulations, and systems,” under the banner of “Humanitarian Assistance.”
The justification for the project was rooted in the fact that tens of thousands of Haitians have arrived at the U.S. border. In 2023 alone, roughly 69,095 Haitians entered the United States through the southern border.
“Since the end of August 2021, there are thousands of Haitians assembling in makeshift sites on the Mexican side of the border to wait while deciding whether to attempt entry into the U.S. carrying their belongings, the migrants have been traversing the ankle-deep river between Mexico and Texas. As of 17 September, there were about 13,700 new arrivals in Del Rio City,” the USAID project description says.
“The International Organization of Migration (IOM) aims to support the improvement of reception facilities to better welcome migrants upon their return to Haiti, both in Port-Au-Prince and Cap-Haitian. This will enable key stakeholders involved in migrant assistance to be prepared for repatriations and stand ready to welcome migrants even when informed in a very short notice,” USAID added.
The United States also sent millions to the region in general, under one project with the purpose of “Assistance for Informed, Safe and Dignified Returns of Vulnerable Migrants in Participating Countries of the Americas,” according to USAID. This project was worth $2.5 million and implemented alongside the IOM.
In total, the United States allocated $1,781,452,241 on all aid projects in fiscal year 2023 for Latin American countries where hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants came from. This included $441,300,796 to Colombia (137,389 illegal crossings), $9,519,970 to Cuba (63,135 illegal crossings), $50,751,799 to Ecuador (106,635 illegal crossings), $145,002,715 to El Salvador (59,693 illegal crossings), $187,388,066 to Guatemala (225,998 illegal crossings), $331,549,853 to Haiti (69,095 illegal crossings), $151,007,802 to Honduras (213,853 illegal crossings), $112,633,591 to Mexico (671,128 illegal crossings), $27,111,714 to Nicaragua (16,690 illegal crossings), $119,346,269 to Peru (55,276 illegal crossings), and $205,839,666 to Venezuela (302,736 illegal crossings).
Neither the White House or the State Department responded to request for comment.
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The $1.7 billion total is just slightly under the $1.8 billion per year requested by Trump over a ten year period to construct a border wall. While Mehlman said that funding for a complete border wall, more detention centers, and additional Border Patrol officers would be helpful, the number one priority needed to be taking away incentives to enter the U.S. illegally.
“The number one priority actually does not entail money, it is creating deterrence. The people who are coming are coming for rational reasons. They understand that if they get to the border there is very, very high probability that they will be allowed to remain here indefinitely. We need to change that perception,” he said.
House Republicans visited the border this week calling for the Biden administration to clamp down on the crisis and secure the border.
“We were shown firsthand how the President’s reckless open-border policies are devastating communities across the state,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the visit. “The Biden Administration is showing once again it is obviously their deliberate strategy to keep the border open and continue the chaos and humanitarian crisis their policies have created.”
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