The protest was visible to the U.S. vice president’s motorcade as she arrived Monday, to meet with Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei to discuss the illegal migration crisis which the Biden administration has struggled to manage.
The Protesters greeted Harris with chants of “Trump won” and “go home.” One large sign near the Central American country’s presidential palace read “Kamala, Trump won.” Another sign read “Kamala, Mind Your Own Business.”
Images posted online show other signs, including one that tells Biden’s migration czar: “Kamala, Go Home.” Another large sign set up by activists features a doctored photo of a pregnant Harris. The poster read, “Guatemala is pro-life #momalahelpme.” Harris does not have biological children.
Another sign that appears to have been hoisted by activists onto a tall billboard along the roadway says, “Kamala Stop Funding Criminals #FueraDeGuatemala.”
Giammattei has blamed the U.S government for the migration crisis. Biden revoked former President Trump's more restrictive anti-illegal immigration measures when he took over in January.
The Guatemalan president said in a CBS News interview that aired Sunday that the Biden administration is to blame for sparking the migration crisis. He said he and Harris -- who is also Biden's immigration czar -- “are not on the same side of the coin” on migration.
“We asked the United States government to send more of a clear message to prevent more people from leaving,” Giammattei said. When Biden took office, “The message changed to: ‘We’re going to reunite families, we’re going to reunite children.’ The very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States.”
Critics attribute the record surge of illegal immigration to Biden’s policies, including his decision to end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required most asylum-seekers from Central America to remain in Mexico while US courts reviewed their claims of persecution.
The number of US-Mexico border detentions -- from the 'Northern Triangle' of Central America, which includes Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -- soared to a 21-year monthly high of more than 178,000 in April, the most recent month for which statistics are available.