Trump vows to cut aid as caravan grows en route to U.S.
Federal agencies say they’ve received no guidance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump vowed Monday to cut off or “substantially” reduce aid to three Latin American nations, voicing fresh frustration as a growing caravan of migrants that originated in Honduras continued to make its way toward the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.,” Trump said in a morning tweet. “We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.”
It was not immediately clear what payments Trump was alluding to or the extent to which he could act without congressional approval.
Later Monday, in an exchange with reporters before leaving Washington for a rally in Texas, Trump again mentioned the three countries and that the U.S. gives them “tremendous amounts of money” for nothing.”
“Every year we give them foreign aid,” Trump said. “And they did nothing for us. Nothing.”
Asked about his claim that the caravan
includes “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners,” Trump told reporters to go look for themselves.
“Go into the middle of the caravan, take your cameras and search, OK?” Trump said. “You’re going to find MS-13, you’re going to find Middle Eastern, you’re going to find everything. And guess what? We’re not allowing them in our country. We want safety.”
Associated Press journalists traveling with the caravan for more than a week have spoken with Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans but have not met any of the “Middle Easterners” that Trump claimed had “mixed in” with the Central American migrants.
It was clear, though, that more migrants were continuing to join the caravan, as they walk and hitch rides through hot and humid weather, and the United Nations estimated that it currently includes about 7,200 people, “many of whom intend to continue the march north.”
However, they were still about 1,140 miles from the nearest border crossing — McAllen, Texas — and the length of their journey could President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the White House lawn Monday. double if they go to Tijuana-San Diego, the destination of another caravan earlier this year. That one shrank significantly as it moved through Mexico, and only a tiny fraction — about 200 of the 1,200 in the group — reached the California border.
In his morning tweets, Trump also expressed frustration with Mexico’s military and police, saying they appear “unable to stop the Caravan” and that he has alerted the U.S. Border Patrol and military to what he implied is a Honduran migrants head to the U.S. on Monday aboard a truck in Metapa, Mexico. national emergency.
But across his administration there was no indication of any action in response to what he tweeted was a “National Emergy.”
For hours on Monday, White House officials were unable to provide an explanation for the president’s threats, which reflected both his apparent frustration with the migrant caravan and his determination to transform it into Republican election gains. Federal agencies said they’d received no guidance on the president’s declaration, issued as he attempts to make illegal immigration a focus of next month’s midterm elections, which the White House believes can be used to drive up turnout among the Republican base.
Trump made that point explicitly in another of his Monday morning tweets.
“Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws!” Trump wrote. “Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally.”
If Trump should follow through with his threat to end or greatly reduce U.S. aid, that could worsen the poverty and violence that are a root cause of the migration he has been railing against, critics said.
In the fiscal year just ended, U.S. aid to Guatemala totaled $83.7 million, to Honduras $58.3 million and to El Salvador $50.7 million. All were sharply lower than in the previous years. In the fiscal year that just began, planned foreign spending for Guatemala is $69.4 million, for Honduras $65.7 million and for El Salvador $45.7 million.