WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration issued new sanctions, visa restrictions and policy alerts on Wednesday against Nicaragua over accusations that the government is stifling human rights and profiting off illegal migration to the United States.
The White House took direct aim at Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in announcing the measures.
“We think these are a set of strong measures that both convey the seriousness the Biden administration takes these issues and expect and hope they have a concrete effect,” a senior administration official told reporters.
The action comes as the flow of migrants at the southwest U.S. border has become an increasing sore spot for President Joe Biden ahead of the November election.
Republicans have increasingly hammered Biden over border security policies and he’s been unable to get any immigration reforms through Congress, primarily because of efforts to sabotage legislation by former President Donald Trump.
The State Department imposed visa restrictions on 250 members of the Nicaraguan government, their families and “non-government actors” for supporting attacks on human rights. The Treasury Department sanctioned a Russian military training center in Managua that supports the Nicaraguan National Police and two gold companies that provide revenue for the government.
Officials called the training facility a “key actor” in repressing civil society and “unjust detention and imprisonment of individuals for expressing dissent.” Gold is one of Nicaragua’s top exports and the Biden administration said the sanctions will hinder the government’s ability to profit from corruption in the sector.
“By leveraging the training it receives from the Russia-backed RTC and the revenue it generates from exploiting the gold sector, the Ortega-Murillo regime has continued its anti-democratic campaign of repression against its citizens,” said Brian Nelson, under secretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. “The United States remains committed to using our tools to support the Nicaraguan people, including by constraining the Ortega-Murillo regime’s ability to fund its oppressive and destabilizing activities.”
Targets of the State Department’s visa restrictions include members of the Nicaraguan government, police and paramilitary personnel, prosecutors, judges and higher education officials.
“The United States continues to call upon the international community to ensure accountability for those who undermine democracy in Nicaragua,” the State Department said in a statement. “We will not waver in our support for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Nicaraguan people.”
Meanwhile, State and Treasury joined the Department of Homeland Security to issue a policy alert to travel companies about how smuggling networks and criminal organizations target vulnerable migrants and facilitate travel to the United States.
A senior administration official said Nicaraguan officials sell visas to “desperate and vulnerable migrants” when they arrive at the airport, requiring the migrants to leave the country in 96 hours. Those migrants “in many cases” make their way to the U.S. border, the official said.
“The administration urges the Nicaraguan regime to cease its systemic violations of human rights and to stop its cynical practice of selling short-term visas upon arrival in Managua that support the exploitation of vulnerable migrants, to the financial benefit of the regime,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The U.S. has a rocky history with Nicaragua, including covert operations to overthrow left-wing governments in the 1980s. Notably, the U.S. supported the Contras against the Sandinista government, which Ortega led at the time, resulting in the infamous Iran-Contra Affair.
Ortega lost the presidency in 1990, but was elected again in 2007. Since then, his government has faced growing criticism for silencing political dissent and persecuting opposition groups.
In November 2021, Biden issued a proclamation restricting entry to the U.S. for Nicaraguans undermining democracy. In that time, the State Department has imposed visa restrictions on more than 1,400 government officials.