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President Trump speaks at a meeting with workers at the White House last week. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)
John Wagner
National journalist heads up the political press team at The Post newspaper
President Trump promised on Monday to cut or cut "substantially" his aid to three Latin American countries, expressing new frustration as a growing caravan of migrants from Honduras continued to make their way to the US-Mexico border.
"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have not been able to prevent people from leaving their country and illegally going to the United States," Trump said in one of the many morning tweets on the subject. "We will now start cutting, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid that is regularly given to them."
It was not immediately clear what payments Trump was referring to or how far he could act without congressional approval.
Trump also expressed his frustration with the Mexican army and police, saying they seemed "unable to stop the caravan" and that he had alerted the US border patrol and army of that that he called a national emergency.
[‘It’s time for me to go back’: Deportees join migrant caravan to return to U.S.]
Prior to the mid-session on November 6, Trump sought to turn the caravan into a symbol of the larger immigration problem, which, according to the White House, can be used to increase the Republican base's voter turnout .
Trump explicitly emphasized this point in another of his Monday morning tweets.
"Whenever you see a caravan, or people entering or attempting to illegally enter our country, think of the Democrats and blame them for not granting us the right to vote to change our pathetic immigration laws." "Wrote Trump. "Remember the midterms! So unfair to those who enter legally. "
Although Trump blames the Democrats, two immigration bills he backed failed in the Republican-controlled House, while there were political oppositions between the conservative and moderate wings of the GOP.
In 2014, when tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors and families from Central America submerged US Border Patrol posts, Congress authorized the granting of 750 aid Millions of dollars to the Northern Triangle countries to stimulate economic growth and improve public security to create conditions preventing the exodus. migrants.
That did not work out, but experts said the strategy would take up to 10 years and would require continued investment and oversight as part of a coordinated strategy that was reversed when Trump took over from President Barack Obama.
According to the US Agency for International Development, aid obligations in the United States this year amount to about $ 53 million in Guatemala, $ 20 million in El Salvador and $ 15 million in Honduras.
On Sunday, the Central American migrant caravan had about 5,000 people, a massive group that stretched on the main highway from Tapachula, Mexico, for more than one kilometer.
Read more:
"This country does not want them": Trump rails against migrants trying to enter the United States
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