Biden to reroute mostly LATAM refugees across the Atlantic
Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Joe Biden is expected to seal a deal in the coming days that will reroute mostly Latin American (LATAM) refugees massing on the US border across the Atlantic to Spain, to defuse the political time bomb mess Donald Trump fuelled while in office.
The agreement will be partly similar to the one the United Kingdom has with Rwanda which enables the UK to send illegal immigrants caught crossing the English channel to the East Africa country.
London is heavily criticised from all sides of political talk for the scheme which many say is not cost effective and is laced with both racism and human rights abuse, with the genocide in Rwanda three decades ago still fresh in people’s minds.
The plan in Washington is less fractious.
Most of Central and South America were colonised by Spain for about 350 years from late 15th century, and Spanish is now the official language of those LATAM countries whose immigrant citizens head up North to the US in the 21st century.
Spanish LATAM colony spanned the Caribbean Islands across to Mexico in the Northern tip of Central America through Venezuela in the North of South America down to Argentina in the South. Except Brazil and others colonised by Portugal.
LATAM immigrants have greater linguistic and cultural affinity with Spain, a country now in dire need of labour.
The proposals, which officials stress are still under discussion, could be announced at next week’s Summit of the Americas, as Biden seeks greater global co-operation on the migrant crisis, which has ballooned during his presidency.
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Spain in labour shortage
Spain is facing a labour shortage, despite having the highest unemployment rate in the EU at 13.5 per cent.
There are more than 100,000 vacancies in the tourism sector, while the country is short of at least half a million building workers, according to unions and companies.
The initial number of refugees resettled by Spain would be “modest” but “symbolically important”, according to documents seen by Axios, the US news website, per reporting by The Telegraph (UK).
It reported that Spain is also expected to agree to double or triple the number of temporary workers from Central America currently accepted through an employment-based migration programme.
It was still unclear on Thursday whether those whom Spain might agree to resettle would be required to apply at US embassies and consulates outside of the US, or whether those who had crossed the border already would be allowed to apply.
Spain has long been a favoured destination for people from Latin America, given the shared language.
In late 2021, there were at least 1.5 million Latin Americans, excluding Brazilians, residing in Spain, of whom 626,000 were born in Central America and the Caribbean, official data show.
Canada weighing taking in more regional refugees
Canada, which has a long tradition as a safe-haven country, is also weighing whether to take in larger numbers of regional refugees and also to increase the number of Haitian workers it allows in, according to the documents.
Between 2015 and 2022, Canada welcomed only 1,500 migrants from the region, but it could announce a new target of 5,000 refugees over a number of years.
One senior Canadian government official told Axios: “Conversations are still ongoing and no decisions have been taken regarding specific commitments on migration at next week’s summit.”
Summit of the Americas
The US is still hammering out a final guest list ahead of next week’s meetings in Los Angeles, senior US officials said, after weeks of tension around several countries expected to be excluded.
Summit preparations have been clouded by the threat of an embarrassing boycott by some regional leaders – including Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president – if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are not invited.
Juan Gonzalez, the White House’s Latin America adviser, said in a call with reporters: “We still have some final considerations. But we will, I think, inform people publicly soon.”
Obrador, who received an invitation last week, has yet to say whether he will attend.
The summit will be held in the US for the first time since 1994. Washington has said it only wanted leaders of administrations that respect democracy to attend, and that the Leftist governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited.
The White House referred questions to the Spanish and Canadian governments. Canada’s immigration department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate word from Spanish authorities.
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