President Donald Trump has ordered for the stopping of aid to the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, after criticizing them for failing to stem the tide of their citizens traveling north and entering the United States illegally.
Trump has mentioned stopping the aid several times since at least October and State Secretary Mike Pompeo has now instructed the department to do so.
“At the Secretary’s instruction, we are carrying out the President’s direction and ending [fiscal year] 2017 and [fiscal year] 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle,” a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We will be engaging Congress as part of this process.”
About a million citizens of the three countries have been caught by Border Patrol between fiscal years 2013 and 2017 (pdf) trying to enter the United States illegally. U.S. taxpayers gave the countries nearly $2.3 billion in aid in those years.
Since 2017, the apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally has substantially increased—up from less than 416,000 in fiscal 2017 to over 521,000 the year after. In fiscal 2019, the inflow is on pace to reach nearly a million, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on March 6. The largest group of the migrants continues to be from the Northern Triangle.
“I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras, and to El Salvador,” Trump told reporters in Florida on March 29. “No money goes there anymore.”
The U.S. has tried for years to aid the Central American countries in developing stable political and economic systems. Trump, however, appears to demand concrete steps to stop the migration now.
“We were paying them tremendous amounts of money and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us,“ the president said.
The White House referred inquiries about the aid to the State Department.
From Warning to Action
Trump’s likely first warning of cutting the aid came in an Oct. 16 tweet, where he warned Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez that the aid to Tegucigalpa will stop unless a migrant caravan that had been traveling from Honduras north through Mexico was stopped and turned around.
The caravan wasn’t stopped and eventually led to thousands of the migrants storming the border near San Ysidro, California, on Nov. 25. Some migrants were caught on video throwing rocks at border security officers and breaking through border barriers only to be repelled with tear gas and/or pepper spray.
The migrants broke through the fence and were repelled with pepper spray smoke pellets. #MigrantCaravan pic.twitter.com/pC8dDFRfOy
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) November 25, 2018
The migrants broke through riot police and are trying to get through any gap possible. pic.twitter.com/IBNoz9WY1i
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) November 25, 2018
“Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money,” Trump wrote in a Dec. 28 tweet. “Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries—taking advantage of U.S. for years!”
…..Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries – taking advantage of U.S. for years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
Indeed, more caravans have formed since, getting help from open border nonprofits and even the United Nations.
The Central American border crossers commonly surrender themselves to the Border Patrol and then request asylum, but only about one in 10 is ultimately found eligible for asylum.
Trump signed a national emergency declaration on Feb. 15 calling the southern border situation a crisis. The administration has identified over $6 billion in funding to be reappropriated toward building more fencing along the border.
The Pentagon authorized $1 billion for border wall construction on March 25. The funds are designated toward the construction of 57 miles of fencing in the Yuma and El Paso border sectors.
Epoch Times staff writer Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
