Vice President Kamala Harris has announced the Biden Administration’s plan to send an extra $1.9 Billion to companies operating in South and Central America to try and stem a coming border surge.
The Vice President made the announcement just one day before the Summit of Americas in Los Angeles.
The new $1.9 Billion is added on top of a previously approved $1.2 billion for a grand total of $3.2 billion to be invested in private companies.
The majority of the new investment is coming from 10 private sector companies. According to the White House fact sheet, these include:
- AgroAmerica who is investing over $100 million which the White House claims “will generate 1,000 permanent, living-wage jobs in northern Central America over the next 5 years.”
- COATL, a digital service firm investing $35 million in El Salvador to expand access to high speed internet
- Fundación Terra, which the White House describes as an “independent foundation”, will invest $24.5 in energy, petroleum, retail, and real-estate sectors with a heavy focus on education.
- Gap Inc. the American clothing company is committing $150 million to ensure more of their clothes are produced in Central American countries. The WH claims this will “support an estimated 5,000 additional jobs in Central America.”
- Millicom, a telecommunications company, is expected to invest a whopping $700 million in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to expand and maintain their mobile and broadband networks in these countries. The White House said these will be alleged green investments, saying that they will be “made in line with the Race to Zero, the UN-backed campaign aimed at promoting a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery.”
- Pantaleon, a conglomerate that invests in agroindustry and real-estate, will invest $9.4 million to fund the initial phase of a 1,200-acre industrial park on Guatemala’s Southern Coast.
- Another US clothing manufacturer SanMar will be investing $500 million in northern Central America to shift more of their production operations to the area. The WH said this investment will create “4,000 additional full-time jobs at Elcatex, a Honduras-based apparel manufacturer owned in part by SanMar.”
- Unifi, which produces recycled and synthetic yarns, is investing $15 million in El Salvador to expand their operations and make them green friendly.
- Visa will be investing $270 million to expand their infrastructure with the hope of “adding 6.5 million people and 1 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into the formal financial system in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.”
- Yazaki North America, an automotive components producer, are planning to invest l $110 million to hire over 14,000 new employees in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Vice President Kamala Harris has been criticized for not doing enough to slow down illegal immigration after Biden named her the Border Czar early last year. She is currently in Los Angeles for the Summit of Americas.
The hope of Kamala and the Biden administration is that this new capital injection will create the promised jobs and lead to less illegal immigration at our Southern Border. Do you think that will actually happen or will the higher wages and better living conditions in the US continue to attract immigrants from these poorer, more dangerous nations?
