Trump threatens to cut help in Honduras about the "caravan" of immigrants

President TrumpDonald John TrumpAuthor's Keynote Debate in Arizona Senate A major Hollywood arts firm is considering rejecting Saudi investments: the Mattis report said it thought "nothing at all" about the fact that Trump could leave the administration. MORE Tuesday threatened to cut aid to Honduras if his government did not prevent a "caravan" of migrants from heading north towards the US border.

"The United States has firmly informed the President of Honduras that if the large caravan of people heading to the United States has not been arrested and brought back to Honduras, no further financial assistance would be paid immediately to Honduras!" the president tweeted.

The president reacted to reports that a group of 1,600 or more Hondurans hoping to reach the United States crossed the border into Guatemala. Monday. Members of the caravan said they were escaping poverty and violence in their home country in search of a better life.

The United States has granted $ 175 million in aid to Honduras in FY 2017, according to USAID.

Trump has long sought to quell illegal immigration, claiming that migrants were bringing crime and drugs into the country. He highlighted the problem in the run-up to the November mid-term elections in order to strengthen his conservative base.

The Washington Post recently announced that the Trump administration is considering a policy that could once again separate parents from their children in order to stem the high number of families going illegally to the United States.

"We will do everything we can to slow this down," Trump told reporters on Saturday. "If they think that there will be a separation, they will not come."

The administration's decision to implement a "zero tolerance policy" on illegal immigration has resulted in thousands of family separations on the southern border during the summer, causing a major political and humanitarian crisis for the president.

Trump also expressed concern over a similar "caravan" from Central America that traveled to the United States in the spring. The vast majority of migrants have not crossed the border, but a handful of asylum seekers have entered the country.

Updated at 09:44