PANAMA CITY, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday Washington would work with Central America to address the root causes of an immigration crisis, but kept up the Obama administration’s tough message that undocumented children would be deported.
“We obviously understand people who want to do better, and who look for a better life,” Kerry said as he met leaders from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, countries from which tens of thousands of children have fled to the United States in recent months. “But at the same time, there are rules of law, and there is a process and there is false information that is being spread about benefits that might be available to these young people who are looking for that better life,” he added.
Kerry was in Panama for the inauguration of the country’s new president, Juan Carlos Varela, and he combined the trip with meetings to address a crisis that is straining U.S. resources and roiling partisan tensions in Washington over immigration.
Kerry met with Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren and Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez did not attend, sending his Foreign Minister Mireya Aguero Trejo de Corrales instead.
