MADRID, 11 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the leaders of 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed this Friday an immigration pact –called the ‘Declaration of Los Angeles’– in order to increase “legal paths” for migrants and refugees , as well as providing aid to destination countries.
“Each of us is signing to commit to the new challenges that we share, as well as the responsibility that impacts each of our nations,” Joe Biden declared at the IX Summit of the Americas.
This pact includes a program to manage temporary work visas by Mexico for workers from Guatemala. In addition, the plan seeks to expand to include Honduras and El Salvador “in the medium term.”
For its part, the US administration has also announced temporary visas for 11,500 nationals from northern Central America. The United States plans to distribute almost 300 million euros ($314 million) in humanitarian aid and “several billion (euros)” to promote new programs to accept refugees in Ecuador and Costa Rica.
Additionally, Canada has pledged to provide 25 million euros ($26.9 million) for migration management and humanitarian aid, according to a joint statement issued by the 20 countries.
The objective of Biden, who has led the Summit of the Americas this year, is to mobilize the continent around actions that transform the approach to managing migration. “No nation has to face this responsibility alone. Each of our futures depends on the others,” the US president clarified, according to a White House statement.
“Our security depends on ways that I think most people don’t fully understand, and I think perhaps in your countries the same is true,” Biden explained, according to the brief. For this reason, the US president has urged the rest of the countries to take care of “our neighbors by working together.”
