‘MIDEAST’ CARAVAN
Trump: They’ve infiltrated huge wave of migrants
President Trump on Monday claimed that “Middle Easterners” are among the expanding group of migrants marching toward the US border, and warned that he will choke off aid to their Central American countries unless the caravan is halted.
During an impromptu news conference on the White House lawn, Trump was asked what proof he had of his claim about infiltrators.
“You know what you should do: Go into the middle of the caravan, take your cameras and search,” he said. “You’re going to find MS-13, you’re going to find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything, and we’re not going to allow them in the country.”
Earlier in a tweet, Trump said because Mexico’s police were unable to stop the group, he “alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy [meaning emergency]. Must change laws!”
The Associated Press reported that a team of reporters traveling with the marchers for more than a week had interviewed people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador but had not encountered any Middle Easterners.
In another post about the migrant group — estimated to now include around 7,500 men, women and children — Trump said he’ll halt aid to the three countries for “not stopping their people from coming illegally to the US.”
“Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, they’re paid a lot of money . . . We give them hundreds of millions of dollars and they — like a lot of others — do nothing for our country,” he told reporters as he headed to a rally for GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas.
“When we ask them to keep their people in their country, they’re unable to do it,” he added.
According to the US Agency for International Development, Guatemala received $249 million in aid in 2017, while Honduras received $175 million and El Salvador took in $115 million.
Trump would need congressional approval to deploy active-duty troops or to make any foreign-aid cuts.
Like many of the migrants fleeing poverty and gang violence at home, José Anibal Rivera, 52, said he is undaunted by the nearly 2,000-mile trek or Trump’s threats to shut down the border.
“Anything that happens, even if they kill me, is better than going back to Honduras,” he said in Mexico.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called Trump’s comments a “fear tactic.”
“These are people fleeing violence or looking for a better life,” Flake said.