Kerry to Analyze Mexican Program Applicable in Central America

At a meeting to take place in the Mexico-Guatemala border on Monday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will evaluate the reforestation program "Planting Life."

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This program provides farmers with a monthly cash transfer for planting trees in their lands. AMLO wishes to replicate this program outside his country to promote Central America development and halt migratory flows. Since its inception in 2019, this program has helped 420,000 Mexican farmers.

Given the inefficiency of coercive policies to stop migratory flows, AMLO suggested to the U.S. government to support Central American regional development through actions such as the granting of work visas.

"If this program were to be implemented right now in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, there would be 90,000 fewer migrants that leave their countries due to lack of jobs," AMLO wrote in a letter sent to Biden.

Recently, President Joe Biden announced that his administration will increase investment for development in Central America. So far, however, he has not commented on the grant work visas requested for the beneficiaries of the Planting Life program.

Mexico faces an immigration crisis on its border with the United States. Over 15,000 Haitian migrants, who are stationed under a bridge connecting both countries.The Biden administration, however, has not changed several Trump-era immigration policies, which resulted in over 1,2 million detentions.

Asylum applications made by migrants take years to process and require access to resources such as legal advice and information. While they await resolution of their cases, the migrants remain in Mexican territory under difficult living conditions.