Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Honduras on Thursday to attend the inauguration of newly elected President Xiomara Castro as the United States looks for a partner in Central America to handle immigration, NPR reports.
Harris, who is tasked with finding the root cause of migration from Central America to the U.S., hopes to "partner" with Castro on several issues that the new president campaigned on, including fighting corruption and improving the country’s healthcare, education, and job opportunities, according to a senior Biden administration official.
"Those are the things that we want to partner with her on," the official, who was not named by NPR, told reporters before the trip. "We believe they are good for the people of Honduras, good for the region and good for U.S. priorities in terms of our overall partnership, as well as our specific goals on root causes" of migration.
Harris and Castro, who have already discussed how they can work together on these issues, are scheduled to meet on Thursday following the ceremonies.
A senior administration official told Fox News that the meeting is "an opportunity to really start a new chapter in the partnership between our two countries and allow us to advance our shared interests. So the meeting and the trip overall is about starting our work together with the Castro administration. And working to do things that are in the best interests of both the American people and the people of Honduras."
Benjamin Gedan, the former head of Latin American policy during former President Barack Obama’s administration, told NPR, "This is an enormously important relationship for the United States.
"The reality is that the migration nightmare the United States is facing is because of poor leadership in Central America and the inability for the United States to find partners in the region to address poverty, to address violent crime, to address corruption."