Guatemalan president blames Biden immigration policy for border crisis

The president of Guatemala says he places blame for the US’ border crisis on President Biden and the Democrats’ “lukewarm” rhetoric on illegal immigration — adding that he urged Vice President Kamala Harris during their meeting to impose harsher penalties on human smuggling.

President Alejandro Giammattei made the comments in an interview Wednesday with Fox News after his summit with Harris, who visited his Central American nation as part of her first foreign visit in office. “Well, humanitarian messages were used here by the coyotes in a distorted manner because what they said over there was that they will promote family reunification,” Giammattei explained, appearing to refer to Biden’s messaging on immigration during the campaign.