The United States was Friday seeking a unified declaration on migration at the close of a week-long Americas summit that has been beset by disputes.
Mexico and several Central American nations — who are key players, along with Haiti, on migration to the United States — declined to send their leaders to the week-long Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles.
But US officials said they worked with neighboring nations and expected wide support Friday for a “Los Angeles declaration” on migration.
The statement, officials said, will formalize many of the arrangements already in place amid a surge of migration into the United States.
The countries will agree to reinforce systems to process claims for asylum on their soil and also to share costs with nations that have been on the frontlines of taking in migrants.
“Each one of our countries has been impacted by unprecedented migration, and I believe it’s our shared responsibility to meet this challenge,” US President Joe Biden told the summit on Thursday.
Countries across the Americas will seek to boost “safe and orderly migration” and to “coordinate specific, concrete actions to secure our borders,” Biden said.
Migration has been a hot-button political issue in Washington as poverty, violence and national disasters have led to a rise in Central Americans and Haitians seeking to enter the United States.
Lawmakers of former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party have seized on the issue, denouncing many migrants and accusing Biden of failing to act effectively.
Migration has increasingly been felt across the hemisphere, with millions of Venezuelans also fleeing a crumbling economy.
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Source: AFP
