WASHINGTON — President Biden said on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead the administration’s efforts to deter migration to the southwestern border by working to improve conditions in Central America, plunging her into one of the most politically fraught issues facing the White House.
The president said he had directed Ms. Harris to oversee the administration’s plans to pump billions of dollars into the ravaged economies of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. She will work with the leaders of Central American governments to bolster the region’s economy in the hopes of reducing the violence and poverty that often drive families in those countries to seek refuge in the United States.
“While we are clear that people should not come to the border now, we also understand that we will enforce the law,” Ms. Harris said before a White House meeting with top immigration officials. “We also — because we can chew gum and walk at the same time — must address the root causes that cause people to make the trek.”
The announcement underscores the sense of urgency at the border, where the administration has struggled to move thousands of young migrants from detention centers meant for adults into shelters managed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Republicans, who have seized on the images to make a case that Mr. Biden’s immigration agenda is only attracting more people from the region, have vowed to put the issue at the center of their efforts to retake power in Congress next year.
Mr. Biden, however, has continued to use a pandemic emergency rule to rapidly turn away most migrants at the border. Even though an appeals court allowed the United States to resume expelling minors, Mr. Biden has elected to welcome them into the country, where they must be kept in custody until they can be released to sponsors.
For Ms. Harris, the diplomatic assignment is likely to be challenging. Previous efforts, including one led by Mr. Biden when he was vice president, were largely unsuccessful, as critics charged that corrupt leaders there had not effectively spent foreign aid money. In the years since, a majority of the families crossing the border have traveled from Central America, seeking economic opportunity, safety from gangs and reunions with family members already in the United States.
The effort by Ms. Harris to address the root causes of migration, which can take years, is also unlikely to quickly produce the swift action demanded by Republicans and some Democrats to reduce the overcrowding at the border. Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, released photographs this week showing dozens of young migrants lying on mats under foil blankets in crowded pods in a tent facility managed by the Border Patrol in Donna, Texas.
“The administration is struggling between the humane, softer approach as opposed to Trump and they have to calibrate and find that balance in enforcing the laws on the books and still projecting compassion,” Mr. Cuellar said after touring an overflow facility managed by the Department of Health and Human Services that was established to move children quickly from the border jails.
As of Monday, more than 4,800 children and teenagers were still stuck in detention cells intended to hold adults for short periods, including more than 3,300 held longer than the maximum 72 hours allowed under federal law, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times. On Tuesday, the number of minors in the border facilities increased to more than 4,960, according to data released on Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. The largest number of minors held this way under the Trump administration was about 2,600 in June 2019, according to current and former Customs and Border Protection officials.
The young migrants are supposed to be moved swiftly to shelters with recreational space and educational programs overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services before they are released to sponsors in the United States. Instead, they have spent an average of 136 hours — nearly six days — in the border jails, according to government documents.
Mr. Biden has struggled to find space for the young migrants approaching the border after only recently restoring shelters to full capacity despite the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Monday, nearly 11,200 minors were in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, filling about 94 percent of readily available beds, according to the documents. Such shelters, which usually have nearly 14,000 beds, were until recently at restricted capacity because of the pandemic. The administration is now working to open more emergency facilities with the help of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Mr. Biden has so far moved more than 1,000 young migrants to a temporary shelter at a convention center in Dallas and more than 300 to a facility at a former camp for oil workers. The United States will also soon move more of them to a temporary shelter at an expo center in San Antonio and another convention center in San Diego.
The Homeland Security Department also briefly considered flying migrants to the northern border to relieve pressure on South Texas, before deciding to limit the flights to other areas along the southern border and California, according to two homeland security officials.
Mr. Biden is examining additional facilities at Defense Department sites.
“I’m concerned about the well-being of these kids,” Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said on Monday. “When the system gets overwhelmed, people, and especially the kids, suffer. And the processing system right now is overwhelmed.”
>
The administration has also faced criticism for limiting access to the border facilities to government officials. While Mr. Cuellar and other government officials, as well as one television crew, were allowed to tour the facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, Mr. Biden has not allowed reporters to see the conditions inside facilities managed by Border Patrol.
Even as the administration focuses on long-term solutions to migration, the United States is projecting that the number of minors approaching the border will rise through the spring and summer, according to the government documents.
Ms. Harris acknowledged on Wednesday that “no question this is a challenging situation,” but said that she was looking forward to engaging in discussions with leaders of Central American countries.
The administration has restarted a program shut by the Trump administration that allows vulnerable families and children to apply for refugee status from the Central America region and proposed billions in foreign aid to address the poverty and corruption in the area.
Mr. Biden dispatched a special envoy of top officials this week to the region to engage foreign leaders on ways to curb the surge, a trip that was cut short after volcanic ash blanketed an airport in Guatemala, according to a White House official.
Mexico has also deployed additional security forces to its border with Guatemala after weeks of quiet pressure from the Biden administration.
For Ms. Harris, the diplomatic assignment is one of the first in a portfolio of responsibilities that aides said would expand in the months ahead. They noted that Mr. Biden, as vice president under President Barack Obama, had been in charge of working to improve conditions in the same Central American countries.
The task is likely to be a difficult one.
In the past several years, Guatemala and Honduras kicked out independent agencies that were investigating graft and have been rocked by corruption scandals that reach the highest levels of government. El Salvador’s president has faced sharp criticism by rights groups for abuses during the pandemic and caused unease in Washington over shows of force involving the military.
Natalie Kitroeff contributed reporting from Mexico City.
