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- BBC News World
The 20 countries signed the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Security this Friday during the US IX Summit, aimed at preventing illegal immigration to the United States.
The agreement ended a meeting in the United States that was not attended by leaders of several Latin American countries who did not attend after Washington decided not to call Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela “anti-democratic governments.”
President of the United StatesJoe BidenThe action culminated with a speech in which he declared, “Illegal immigration is unacceptable and we are going to defend our borders.”
The president has been sharply criticized for maintaining the spontaneous deportation of most of the illegal immigrants coming to his country’s southern border.
As he was delivering his speech, the caravan of 15,000, the largest in recent years, was heading towards the United States from southern Mexico.
Contract details
The United States has promised to increase the number of refugees from the United States to 20,000 by 2023 and 2024, giving special priority to those coming from Haiti, while other countries have promised to facilitate legal access to immigrants, Reuters reports.
These measures include the US and Canada hiring more temporary workers and providing avenues for poorer nations to work in richer countries.
The Biden administration, which is facing records of illegal immigrants on its southern border, has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Venezuelan immigrants in the region.
He pointed out that it would update the processing of family visas for Cubans and Haitians and facilitate the hiring of Central American workers.
“We are changing our approach to managing migration in the United States,” Biden said. “We each sign up to the responsibilities of recognizing the challenges we all share.”
What was not mentioned in the report
This declaration contains specific commitments from countries such as Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Belize and Ecuador. However, nothing is mentioned from Brazil, the most populous country in Latin America.
An official told Reuters that the White House announcement did not include any US offer to grant more work visas to Mexicans, which will be part of the discussion when President Andres Manuel Lபpez Obrador meets with Pita next month.
The White House has said that Spain, a visiting country, has promised to “double the number of work visas” for Hondurans in Madrid’s “circular immigration programs”. There are only 250 Hondurans in Madrid’s temporary work plan.
Countries that do not
Biden’s news was clouded by a partial boycott of leaders, including the president of Mexico, who opposed Washington’s expulsion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Biden pointed out that 6.1 million people have fled Venezuela in recent years.
At the start of Thursday’s summit, Argentine and small Belize leaders attacked Biden face-to-face on the guest list, underscoring the challenge facing the global superpower in regaining its influence among poor neighbors.
Chile, the Bahamas, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda joined the review on Friday, although Biden did not attend. From the podium of the summit, Chile’s left-wing president Gabriel Boric said, “We can have no exceptions.
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