Kamala Harris announces $1.9B more for Central America
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 2 years ago • 91 commentsBy: Callie Patteson (New York Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Vice President Kamala Harris emerged from her long period of silence on the border crisis Tuesday to announce the private sector would throw nearly $2 billion more at Central America — even as thousands of migrants from the region make their way toward the US-Mexico frontier.
The White House framed the $1.9 billion investment plan as the latest attempt to tackle what it calls the "root causes" of mass economic migration to the US.
Initiatives include a $700 million expansion of cellular networks in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador by Miami-based Millicom; a $270 million commitment by Visa to promote digital payments; and a $110 million investment by auto parts supplier Yazaki to hire more than 14,000 employees in Guatemala and El Salvador by the end of 2026.
Whatever the long-term effect of the investment plan, however, it is not expected to affect the caravan currently trekking through Mexico.
On Monday, at least 6,000 people set off from Tapachula, Mexico, marching north with hopes to cross into the US.
Estimates about the official size of the caravan vary. Organizer Luis Villigran told Fox News on Monday that the caravan stretched more than 32 miles and estimated that 9,500 people were taking part.
While the Guardian reported last week that about 11,000 people were part of the caravan and suggested their number could swell as high as 15,000, the Mexican government has neither provided an official estimate of the caravan's size nor made any public comment about it.
Typically, large caravans traveling to the US are made up of a couple thousand people at most.
Harris was appointed as President Biden's "border czar" in March 2021, but has taken few public actions on the matter and has only visited countries in the region twice.
In December, Harris announced an initial $1.2 billion in private-sector investments in Central America — enlisting Pepsi, Cargill, Mastercard and other major US corporations to help create jobs in the region.
Harris — as well as the Biden administration as a whole — has been repeatedly criticized for not doing enough to stop mass migration as the number of attempted border crossings soars.
Republicans reiterated their criticism Monday with the news of the latest caravan approaching the US.
"President Biden's open-border agenda incentivizes lawlessness," the House GOP tweeted from its official account Monday. "A country without secure borders is not a country."
In April alone, border officials reported a new high of 234,088 encounters at the southern border, with just under 97,000 people summarily expelled under Title 42 and more than 110,000 released into the US.
"A true border czar must be a leader who acknowledges that border security is national security, provides CBP with the resources they have been deprived of, takes action to protect American communities from lethal narcotics, and doesn't allow border security policy decisions to be guided by open borders activists," Mark Morgan, former US Border Patrol chief under the Obama administration and US Customs and Border Protection head under former President Donald Trump, told The Post.
Even fellow Democrats have blasted the seemingly limited efforts by the veep.
"I say this very respectfully to her: I moved on," Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told the New York Times in December. "She was tasked with that job, it doesn't look like she's very interested in this, so we are going to move on to other folks that work on this issue."
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It's really insane.
We are taking in thousands of migrants entering illegally and now certain people are giving the countries that don't want those people almost $2 Billion.
Have you noticed in the news recordings of these people walking that the majority of these people are clean, do not appear unfed, and have what could be called fairly new and stylin' clothes and shoes at that. Who the hell is feeding and clothing them?
Probably one or more of the many leftist organizations seeking to replace American citizens.
Why are we just giving money away?
I wish I knew who the "we" are?
Did you read the article you posted? It was clearly stated that it was PRIVATE money, money from corporations, not government sources, so it's not coming out of taxpayer dollars, not out of your pockets, but investments and business expansion funded by private corporations. And to answer your wish about knowing who the "we" are, they are named in the article.
You really think US corporations are just giving away 2 billion dollars to Central American countries? The US taxpayer is underwriting this "investment". Corporations don't do anything for free.
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Sorry for my ignorance. I never studied economics or political economy and I guess it was stupid to think that major American corporations actually make investments in other countries and expand their businesses there. Could you please explain to me how the taxpayers are underwriting those investments.
And did you read my comment?
I clearly stated "CERTAIN PEOPLE" were giving!
Yes, I read your comment where you said you wished you knew who the "we" (referring back to charger 383's comment) were, and I replied to it and told you who they were. I did not see the words "certain people" in your comment.
What was posted in the very first post should be sufficient.
No it wasn't. I didn't reply to your first comment, I replied to the one where you said you wished you knew who the "we" were, and why would you have even bothered to have said that if you already knew they were "CERTAIN PEOPLE"?
Our foreign policy has involved giving a certain amount of money to countries for just about as long as there has been a foreign policy. We do it to influence outcomes in those countries and to keep the world stable for our interests.
Nobody wants a steady flood of refugees seeking asylum crossing the border.
Part of the blame goes back to when we expanded the eligibility for asylum to include fleeing a nation for problems not directly caused by the government. So now people seeking to escape gangs and abusive family members are also eligible for asylum. It strike me as a policy that has its heart in the right place but is obviously unsustainable.
The laws haven't changed - the practice of adhering to the laws have - specifically with the Dem/Lib administrations.
Except the Democrats!
What laws have been broken?
8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien ( 8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)
So how did Biden break that law?
By NOT ENFORCING IT - gee, was that so hard?
You mean by trying to lift donald era restrictions that were put in place for the pandemic...
Name one.
Believe it or not, those "restrictions" are listed in the Immigration laws - they were not Trumps.
Ender - you "appear" to be in an area that you're really not that familiar with. Recommend you do additional review of the existing immigration policies/procedures/practices and laws - that should help you out a lot.
So you are going to flat put deny donald put restrictions in place when he was president...
And then say I need to do more research?
I think you should take your own advice.
Can you name the law which supposedly hasn't changed?
They can't vote. They won't be voting for Democrats anytime soon. They are a political liability. And they are a problem that isn't easy to fix.
Fox News gets to cast them as a Democrats wet dream. I think they are a nightmare for the Democrats. They really can't solve this problem without rethinking who gets to petition for asylum under the law. And that's been a problem for decades.
If that is so, why do Democrats like them so much?
Maybe it is just that Dems don't hate them that much.
Those restrictions needed to remain.........it basically opened the door............and don't think that the people headed this way don't know that.
They were suppose to be temporary measures as far as I knew.
Bingo!
The "we" said by me referred to the American Citizens and taxpayers. If VP Harris arraigned it, we are the payers at the end of the bill. That is where Harris gets the money for everything
We are giving away BILLIONS to other countries knowing it would be better spent here in our own country.
Obviously it hasn't worked when it comes to migrants
A staggering 2.5 million children are now homeless each year in America. This historic high represents one in every 30 children in the United States.
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In January 2020, there were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness in America. Most were individuals (70 percent), and the rest were people living in families with children. They lived in every state and territory, and they reflected the diversity of our country.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night . And approximately twice that many experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. Approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans, although veterans comprise only 34% of the general adult male population. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that on any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness during the course of a year (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 2006). 97% of those homeless veterans will be male (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008).
2.5 million children are homeless in the U.S. 580K U.S. citizens are homeless in the U.S. 131,000 military veterans are homeless in the U.S.
DC - You got your priorities in the wrong friggin' place. How 'bout talking to those "rich" corporations and get them to help with our situation at home?
Oh - don't wanna help our people?? Then move to another country - we need you, but we sure as hell don't NEED you.
This administration could care less about the US Citizens. They've made that perfectly clear from day 1.
Better 5G? Baby, get me on the next ride to Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción.
A $3.2 billion investment in cell towers, credit cards, and junk food? Investments made by service businesses only suck money out of an economy. How is that going to help?
Democrats always claim to be advocates for housing, education, and healthcare. According to Democrats those investments end poverty and improve lifestyles. So, where are those investments?
The pandemic has taught us that there is a woeful lack of manufacturing capacity for medical supplies and equipment. Investments in that type of production could have a real impact on the locality and help prepare for the next pandemic. The war in Ukraine has spotlighted the tenuous supply of fertilizers which could be produced in these countries and provide a sustainable source of revenue. We've also seen a huge demand for air transport so aircraft manufacturing and maintenance would provide long term jobs that would add money back to the economy. Even a flight instruction school would have more impact than a McDonalds.
But Harris is singing praises for investments in cell towers, credit cards, and junk food? That's only going to make the situation worse in the long term. Apparently the Biden administration doesn't understand economics and job creation. Celebrating investments that will only suck more money out of Central America really does explain why the US economy is faltering under Biden and Harris.
wonder how many of those jobs will replace positions in the USA?
Tit for tat. They need jobs and money, then people complain when jobs are made available.
The way I look at it, a job down there or them trying to come here to find one.
I wonder why it seems to be certain countries. Brazil has a lot of crime yet we don't see truckloads of Brazilian people trying to cross.
14,000 employees in 4 years. 15,000 is the projected size of the migrant caravan currently headed for the southern border. Are we to believe those migrants will turn around and wait for a job producing auto parts? Besides Biden wants to do away with those jobs to fix climate change.
Are we to ignore attempts to make lives better in these countries? Or continue with business as usual.
Cars are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Better read my comment again. I wasn't complaining about jobs being made available. I'm complaining about the economic stupidity of the Biden administration.
Kamala Harris is being given credit for encouraging investments in the wrong kind of jobs that aren't going to address the problem. Harris is making the situation worse and not better. That indicates either ignorance, incompetence, or inattention. Harris isn't doing this for the people of Central America; she's doing this for her own political benefit.
The wrong kinds of jobs? She cannot force a company to set up shop. How is it economic stupidity to get companies to invest....
If she is doing it for herself, she is not doing a very good job. Name me one politician that does not do things for political benefit.
Harris IS just continuing with business as usual. That's the point.
Harris is following the Democrats prescription for every problem -- just throw money at it. There isn't any planning. There isn't any evaluation of what these Central American countries need. There isn't any consideration for how the money will affect the United States.
Harris is only searching for a personal win. Harris is not even trying to create a win-win outcome. Harris is just continuing with the slacker business as usual approach. Lookie, lookie, see the money? Oooh, aaah.
She is not throwing any money at it. She got a group of companies to invest.
Seems to be a little more than some have done.
Why is it that foreign governments can target investments in specific industries inside the United States? The United States government is incapable of doing what has become routine business practice for the Chinese government?
The United States just throws money against the wall and hopes something sticks. Cell towers, credit cards, and fast food? That's what the United States government is encouraging to improve lifestyles in Central America? That seems like a recipe to make the rich richer.
That has been the mantra in the US for a long time.
So cell towers and credit cards would make their lives worse? Maybe fast food would yet McDonalds and other companies don't mind setting up shop wherever they can.
And again, it is not the US doing the investing so they are not throwing any money around.
Obviously Yazaki has convinced the U.S./world that they can give 14,000 jobs making automotive electrical wiring harnesses - period?
BS - I'd betcha that the Choctaw Nation, who produces electrical wiring harnesses to GM and a few other major automotive companies, could/would make much better use of those jobs.
You are proving my point. How dare a company have jobs there. They should be doing it here.....
How dare they built a cell tower there, they should do it here...
Now that you all bitch and complain about letting a company open up down there, you are going to complain about the people trying to come here...
Apples and oranges. One is legal and the other is not.
What? What are you comparing? That a company better open up here and not there?
Read 2.2.6 - need any more clarity for you?
What in the hell does you thinking Biden is not enforcing immigration law have to do with a company investing in countries south of the border...
Well, for one, he has no legal authority to tell companies when/where/why they can invest - BUT - and this is the big one - he has tremendous legal authority to tell who can/can not enter the U.S. with legal status.
Apples and oranges.
False comparison.
He is not telling companies where they can invest. You are making up lies to justify your position.
You really need to quit before you get further behind - useful advice.
I am not the one making up lies.
Yes. Why must I repeat that?
Housing, education, healthcare. Those are jobs that directly improve people's lives. Not only do people have a job, the jobs specifically produce things that directly benefit the local economy and the people living in that economy. Why is that so difficult to understand?
Democrats claim to be advocates for housing, education, and healthcare. But whenever Democrats are in power they always seem to cater to financial and service businesses that produce nothing and only suck money out of an economy to make the rich richer.
Democrats don't walk the talk when placed in a position that can deliver on promises they've made.
What are you even talking about. Claiming cell towers will make their lives worse.
What do you want them to do, go down there and build a hospital?
You are harping on things just to be able to complain.
YES.
A hospital won't do much. There is a need to build hospitals. There is a need for workers to produce the building materials, fixtures, equipment, supplies, and infrastructure to build many hospitals. And schools. And houses.
The hospitals, schools, and houses will directly benefit the local economy and improve the lives of people living in that economy. These countries do not have the basic infrastructure that people in the United States take for granted.
Sure. Next you will tell me that if they came up with the money to build a hospital that how dare they do that. We need hospitals here...
Seems to be a recuring theme.
I seriously doubt people are traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles for healthcare.
So, people are traveling hundreds, if not thousands, of miles for cell phone coverage? Or credit card approval?
That is what Kamala Harris is taking credit for brokering.
A start is a start.
You would think her job would be to get companies to invest in the US rather than Honduras.
People have been saying for a long time to tackle the problems there and maybe there would be no need for them to come here. She actually tried to put something together to start something there and people complain.
or just make it so they can't come here. This country is overpopulated and can't take care of Citizens now.
People have been coming across the border for over a century.
The only things we ever talk about is degrees of severity.
It is time a stop is put to it
Point being, do you try to fix there or spend all of your time and money building and maintaining and arming structures.
The smart thing to do would be to fix the mess we have here regarding our porous border, AND THEN try to help their situation. But of course we are being led by an America last administration so don’t expect a common sense response.
People say a lot of idiotically naive stuff. That doesn't make it valid.
What she should be putting together are incentive packages to get companies to invest $2billion in the US, with US workers. She should be working to create US jobs for US workers who pay US taxes.
We're sitting here pretending like the global economy isn't competitive.
Fine....provided "help their situation" involves "building a US economy so strong we have to import foreign workers to fill the extra jobs".
Keeping them out would be my first priority, border walls and guards spend tax money here and keep problems there
Second would be providing birth control and abortions in those countries , lower numbers there means fewer trying to come here. Get rid of that stupid Hyde Amendment because it works against America's best interest
Then some aid, with strings attached, for things that do not hurt jobs here and advance our national interests
Provide military aid and training
Whatever we do, we should put our interests first and make it cost effective
Baby steps, Jack. Baby steps.
“Whatever we do, we should put our interests first”
i agree 100% but that will never happen with todays democrats.
I don't want to keep them out. I want them here.
I just want them to sign in and get a taxpayer ID at the door, just like the rest of us.
It seems this is going no where. No matter what it sounds like you all want to keep the status quo. So you all have fun with that.
OR..... maybe we just want somebody to do something about immigration that isn't completely mentally retarded.
Chanting build a wall works so well...
Increasing immigration quotas might be a good start.
Any immigrant will tell you that the "root causes" of mass economic migration are massively corrupt systems run by massively corrupt officials. I'm not sure how outsourcing more US jobs actually "tackles" that.
The root cause is we are dumb enough to let them come here and they know it