President Trump right to reconsider aid money

Last week, a group of migrants set out from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to make the 1,000-plus-mile trip to the U.S. border in hopes of asylum. At this writing, the number of people in that group has grown to 4,000, who have reached the Guatemalan border with plans to traverse north through Mexico and on to Texas and other border points.

President Donald Trump has dealt with the crisis the way he so often does, taking to Twitter to lash out with all of the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. He has warned Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala that he’ll cut off their financial aid if they don’t stop their people from attempting to make it to the United States.

What disappoints us is the president’s attempt to make people fleeing those countries out to be perpetrators, hoping to storm the United States, instead of victims, fleeing their home country for the chance at a better life.

But while Trump might lack empathy for those suffering, he does make an important point about the use of U.S. aid money to governments that appear increasingly incapable of protecting their own citizens inside their own borders.

Had Trump addressed the issue more diplomatically, he would be more likely to build support for the idea that the way the U.S. administers aid to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras should be on the table for reconsideration.

Drug trafficking, human trafficking, gang violence and corruption have created a climate where people feel safer making the dangerous journey to the U.S. border instead of remaining at home—even as hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance pour in each year.

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. disbursed more than $883 million to the three countries in 2016 and 2017. The money is allocated for drug interdiction, counter-drug activities, education and nutrition—the very programs designed to help the people who live there and keep them from fleeing.

But we have to ask if those funds are being used effectively to make these countries more secure for their citizens. U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Pilot Point, first introduced legislation in 2014 designed to reduce foreign assistance to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala (as well as Mexico) to compensate for the cost of providing federal housing to unaccompanied minors. Burgess also suggested the possibility of redirecting the assistance to U.S.-backed nongovernmental organizations and nonprofits on the ground that are doing the work the government will not.

It’s unfortunate that the president offers no thought for the struggling and desperate people who make up the caravan. At the same time, there’s no reason not to require countries to use the money U.S. taxpayers send them to foster better circumstances for their people, so they can feel safe inside their own countries. If those governments can’t do that, Trump is right. We should find better ways to deliver help to Central America.