Top Honduran official says mass migration to US 'possible' when title 42 ends, stresses economic help

close

Video

Honduran Foreign Minister on how to keep Hondurans in their country amid migrant surge

Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina emphasizes the need for better economic and social circumstances in Honduras to keep citizens in their country as migrant numbers to the US continue to grow.

With the end of CDC public health policy of Title 42, an order that allows federal authorities to quickly deport migrants at US borders citing the health pandemic, the Foreign Minister of Honduras warns that it could lead to an increase of migration to the US.

In an interview with Fox News, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina discussed his recent meetings with officials in the Biden administration, plans on tacking internal corruption and issues of migration to the southern border. Fox News asked Foreign Minister Reina whether there was concern over a mass emigration to the United States when the Biden administration ends Title 42.

DEM TITLE 42 COMPROMISE BEING 'WORKED ON,' HOYER AND SCHUMER SAY, AS MODERATES SEEK DISTANCE FROM WHITE HOUSE

"It will be possible. I think this issue has been a part of the worries and we understand that many people internally and with the different policies that the US has to decide." He said. 

Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. Governors from 26 states have formed a strike force to address the crisis at the border. (John Moore/Getty Images)

14% of migrants who have been expelled using Title 42 originated from Honduras. The policy was put in place in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in March of 2020. Already over 100,000 migrants have been encountered from Honduras since the beginning of the Fiscal Year according to CBP data. The Biden administration posted that they would end Title 42 on May 23rd, but a Federal Judge in Louisiana blocked that order earlier this week.

"A main issue that we will have to work together with the Biden administration in order to provide some alternative to develop this possibility of all economic growth in Honduras". He said

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS - DECEMBER 30: Elected President of Honduras Xiomara Castro of the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre) speaks during a ceremony to present credentials from the National Electoral Council certifying her victory in the Presidential Elections on December 30, 2021 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (Photo by Inti Ocon/Getty Images)

Honduras has been a key fixture for the Biden administration in solving the migrant crisis. It is part of the Northern triangle in Central America where over 680,000 migrants originated from in FY 2021.  In January, Vice President Kamala Harris attended the inauguration of President Xiomara Castro, head of the left-leaning Libre party, with a focus on combating corruption and irregular migration.

Foreign Minister Reina traveled to Washington and New York with a series of White House and State Department officials, including senior director of the NSC department for the Western Hemisphere Juan Sebastian Gonzalez. They discussed the need for more direct aid to Honduras to prevent the flow of migration to the US. 

IMMIGRATION NEARS TOP OF LIST OF URGENT ISSUES FOR AMERICANS, OVERTAKING UKRAINE: POLL

"We will really need investment, we need the resources in order to develop our country. And so the people have better social and economic circumstances in their lives, so they will not be obliged to leave the country. And probably that is a main issue that we will have to work together with the Biden administration in order to provide some alternative." 

Issues of anticorruption policies and practices were also discussed. Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was recently extradited to the US on drug trafficking and weapons charges that occurred during his time in office.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Mr. Reina also hoped that Vice President Harris and President Castro could have an additional summit in the United States by the end of the year, expressing confidence that President Castro’s ambitious agenda will have long lasting change despite being in power for less than 90 days.

"The decision has been taken and the President has a power with the votes of an historic vote of Hondurans. So that what we have to do face and we have this challenge to fulfill all this expect that is that the Honduran people have."