Regional leaders unveil migration plan at Americas summit hit by strife

LOS ANGELES • US President Joe Biden and fellow leaders from the Western Hemisphere on Friday rolled out a new set of measures to confront the regional migration crisis, seeking to salvage an Americas summit roiled by division.

Mr Biden's aides had touted the migration declaration as a centrepiece of the United States-hosted Summit of the Americas, and 20 countries joined him for a ceremonial unveiling of the plan - though several others stayed away.

Capping the summit's final day, the White House promoted a series of migrant programmes agreed by countries across the hemisphere and Spain, attending as an observer, which pledged a more cooperative approach.

But analysts were sceptical that the pledges are meaningful enough to make a significant difference.

Those measures include the US and Canada committing to take in more guest labourers, providing pathways for people from poorer countries to work in richer ones, and other countries agreeing to greater protections for migrants.

Mexico will accept more Central American workers, according to a White House statement.

"We are transforming our approach to manage migration in the Americas," Mr Biden said.

"Each of us is signing up to commitments that recognises the challenges we all share."

Attendance of several of the nations was achieved only after days of US pressure. It was another sign of tensions that have marred the summit, undermining Mr Biden's efforts to reassert US leadership and counter China's growing economic footprint in the region.

That message was clouded by a boycott by several leaders, including Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to protest against Washington's exclusion of leftist US antagonists Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The Biden administration, facing a record flow of illegal migrants at its southern border, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for Venezuelan migrants, renewed processing of family-based visas for Cubans and Haitians and eased the hiring of Central American workers.

The announcements were part of the unveiling of a US-led pact dubbed the Los Angeles Declaration which aims to spread responsibility across the region to contain the migration problem.

The summit was designed to re-establish US influence among its southern neighbours after years of relative neglect under former president Donald Trump.

Mr Biden proposed an economic partnership to help the region's pandemic recovery - though it appears to be a work in progress.

But at the summit's opening last Thursday, leaders from Argentina and tiny Belize rebuked Mr Biden over the guest list, underscoring the challenge the US faces in restoring its status among poorer neighbours. Chile, Bolivia, the Bahamas, St Lucia, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda joined the criticism the next day.

REUTERS