The United States on Friday promised to do more to manage migration and hoped for growing consensus around the Americas at a summit in Los Angeles that was beset from the start by disputes.
The Summit of the Americas wound down with words of praise from the top diplomat of neighboring Mexico, whose leader marred the week-long event with a boycott in protest over President Joe Biden’s invitation list.
Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said he saw “some results of the summit which are very positive in our view,” pointing to Biden’s calls for economic cooperation and a “regional approach on migration.”
US officials said that the summit would produce the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection that will formalize many of the arrangements already in place.
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, officials said.
“Each one of our countries has been impacted by unprecedented migration, and I believe it’s our shared responsibility to meet this challenge,” 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.
Extreme poverty, rising violence and natural disasters worsened by climate change have triggered to a sharp rise in Central Americans and Haitians seeking to enter the United States.
Former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party has seized on the issue ahead of congressional elections, denouncing migrants from developing countries and accusing Biden of failing to act effectively.
In an announcement timed for the summit, the State Department said the United States would resettle 20,000 verified refugees from the Americas over the next two years — a three-fold increase but a far cry from the 100,000 Ukrainian refugees that Biden, mostly with Republican support, has pledged to take in.
The United States also announced $314 million in new funding to support some of the more than six million Venezuelans who have fled their country, whose economy has been in freefall.
– Friction over invitations –
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, known for his love of music, put Biden’s message in more colorful language while chairing the summit as he replied to the prime minister of Barbados, who quoted Bob Marley in saying “there is so much trouble in the world.”
“In the words of Bob, no woman, no cry,” Blinken said. “Don’t shed no tears, let’s act. We can sing a ‘Redemption Song’ together.”
But the summit was also marked by discord, largely over Biden’s refusal to invite the leftist leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela on the grounds that they are authoritarians.
The prime minister of tiny Belize directly criticized Biden on the invitations and pointedly asked him if he will follow up on lofty promises, pointing to the $40 billion package from the United States to support Ukraine in its war.
“We know that money is not the problem,” Prime Minister John Briceno told him.
Biden, who applauded politely and greeted each leader, returned to the podium to say that his agenda was on track.
“Notwithstanding some of the disagreements relating to participation, on the substantive matters, what I heard was almost unity and uniformity,” the US president said.
Biden called the summit in the face of rising Chinese influence in a region that the United States has long considered its home turf.
But the Biden administration has steered clear of big-dollar announcements and instead focused on broad declarations and pledged to work out specifics later.
The administration promised earlier in the summit to help train 500,000 health workers in the Americas and unveiled $1.9 billion in private funding for Central America to create jobs and stem some of the factors motivating migration.
Biden also met at the summit with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a first encounter with a far-right leader who has questioned not only the legitimacy of upcoming elections at home but also of the US polls in which Biden defeated Trump.
Bolsonaro, who was one of Trump’s closest international allies, told the summit that his meeting with Biden was “simply fantastic.”
