A U.S. project to derail illegal immigration from Central America — part of Vice President Kamala Harris’ border czar portfolio — is poorly staffed and prone to fraud, the government’s comptroller general said in a new report Thursday.
The idea behind Centroamerica Local was to pay local organizations in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to come up with ways to try to keep residents in their home country and not attempt the journey to the U.S.
Investigators at the Government Accountability Office said it’s too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the project, but they raised red flags about how it’s being run by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The project had more than 100 vacant positions at the time of GAO’s audit, and those staffers that were working hadn’t gotten sufficient fraud awareness training, investigators said.
“Without requiring such training and the tracking of participation, USAID cannot be assured that its staff and implementing partners are continuously aware of risks that could affect its programs,” the audit said.
Mr. Biden tapped Ms. Harris in March 2021 to do something about the border as migrants began to surge into the U.S.
She quickly earned the title of border czar, though her defenders rejected that notion and said her role was less about what was going on at the U.S.-Mexico boundary and more about trying to improve conditions in Central America so people would stop coming illegally.
That effort is known as the Root Causes Strategy, and it is supposed to work on economic development, good government and criminal justice.
The Washington Times has reached out to the vice president’s office for comment.
Ms. Harris was in Minnesota Thursday for a campaign appearance, making history as the first president or vice president ever to tour an abortion clinic.
In its reply to the audit, USAID pointed out that GAO didn’t identify any actual instances of fraud yet. The agency also said it is working on better staffing and will improve its fraud training.
USAID has made several different attempts to carry out the Root Causes strategy.
The one GAO studied, Centroamerica Local or CL, was begun in November 2021. It calls for spending $300 million over five years, most of that going directly to local organizations that promise to carry out the Root Causes mission.
GAO said the problem with using local organizations is that they’re often small and less established, and require more support from the U.S. That means more U.S. staff, and it also means keeping a wary eye for indications of fraud, particularly given corruption issues in the three countries in question.
“However, almost two and a half years into the effort, the three missions continue to have vacant positions, particularly among [Foreign Service Nationals],” the audit said.
GAO said USAID’s embassy space in Guatemala is too small to accommodate all the staffing needed, and USAID’s mission in Honduras is moving this spring to a smaller space, too.
Investigators warned staffing will become an even bigger issue as the CL program awards more money.
GAO said the overall program is too new to judge its effectiveness.
There has been a dip in the numbers coming from the three countries in question, though the total is still far higher than what Mr. Biden inherited.
Customs and Border Protection detected 701,049 unauthorized migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in fiscal year 2021; 541,618 in 2022; and 495,286 in 2023. In 2020, the last full year under former President Donald Trump, the figure was just 106,762.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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