With the Collaborative Migration Management Strategy, the Biden Administration plans to improve the management of the U.S-Mexico border and asylum claims throughout Mexico and the Northern Triangle to alleviate current pressures on the U.S immigration system. The strategy was announced along with the Root Causes Strategy on July 29, 2021, and is part of Biden’s “Blueprint for a Fair, Orderly, and Humane Immigration System.”
Migration from Central America has risen substantially since 2010. From 2010 to 2019, the percentage of all asylum grants to nationals from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras increased from 4 to 16%. Rising claims from the Northern Triangle region have contributed to large backlogs at the U.S-Mexico border. The Trump administration responded to this situation with asylum bans, metering, and the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program. Biden plans to take a different approach by using the Collaborative Migration Management Strategy to stabilize populations, expand access to international and local protection, expand labor migration programs, reintegrate returning migrants, create humane management at the border, strengthen messaging on migration, and expand lawful pathways for protection in the U.S.
The Biden Administration released an update on their efforts on April 20, 2022, stating they had helped the Mexican and Northern Triangle governments:
- build asylum systems
- offer funding to victims of trafficking
- provide reception services
- arrest human smugglers
- restart the Central American Minors program
More recently, at the Summit of the Americas, the U.S and other countries committed to expanding legal pathways for migrants (especially Central Americans) and information sharing about transnational crime and human smuggling. These agreements reflect plans in the Collaborative Migration Management Strategy, signaling significant changes in transnational migration governance. A month later, in July of 2022, President Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador also discussed migration. López Obrador expressed his support for more temporary work visas. The most popular labor programs for migrants from Mexico and the Northern Triangle are the H-2A (agricultural workers) and H-2B (non-agricultural workers). In 2020, about 90% of H-2A and 70% of H-2B visas went to Mexicans. Guatemalans received less than 2% of H-2As and 4% of H-2Bs, with smaller figures for Salvadorans and Hondurans.
In Favor of the Collaborative Migrant Management Strategy
Supporters believe the policy change will improve protection pathways and prioritizes meaningful humanitarian assistance for asylum seekers and a safe border. Specifically, expanding in-region and international pathways to asylum is a major positive step for humane migration management. Supporters also see collaborative efforts between the U.S. and neighboring countries as necessary to managing migration to the U.S. Finally, they assert that these frameworks meet today’s challenges and will be well prepared for future ones.
In Opposition to the Collaborative Migrant Management Strategy
Critics on the left disagree with the administration’s dependence on the Mexican government to improve its asylum system for Central American migrants. They claim that it is unreliable, continuing to treat migrants as potential security threats, and unable to handle increasing claims. Instead, these critics recommend that the U.S. connect with Mexican NGOs and civil society organizations, who fill in for the government and know best what asylum seekers need. Others are against expanding temporary worker programs because of exploitation and abuse in these structures. For example, temporary work visas create an imbalance of power between migrant laborers and employers because workers’ employment is tied to a single employer. Therefore, critics on the left say a visa increase is ineffective in remedying Central American humanitarian crises because work conditions cannot be improved under the same system.
Critics on the right argue that the policy is ineffective in preventing human smuggling and decreasing immigration flows. Critics claim that admitting unaccompanied minors and family units with asylum programs is counterintuitive to preventing smuggling and trafficking. They say that the government would spend less money on investigations and prosecutions if they resumed the “Remain in Mexico” program. Other conservative critics believe that migration resource centers (part of the plan to expand asylum in Mexico and Central America) would only attract more immigrants, worsening the current border situation. Specifically, amnesty would encourage irregular immigration.
After the Trump presidency, Biden’s Collaborative Migration Management Strategy is a shift in position on asylum and focuses on increasing access to immigration. The debate is over whether creating more pathways for migrants will alleviate pressures on the U.S-Mexico border or worsen them.
