Trump to cut Central America aid as migrant caravan rolls on
- by Muriel Colon
- in Global Media
- — Oct 23, 2018
"I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy", he wrote....
President Donald Trump said Monday, October 22, the United States will start cutting aid to 3 Central American countries as a caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rolled on regardless toward the U.S. 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 US". He even threatened to cut global aid to those nations if the caravan reached the US.
Trump's remarks also seemed aimed at piling pressure on Mexico to stop the caravan, something that he complained the Mexican police and military had failed to do.
According to the Associated Press, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador received more than $500 million combined from the United States during fiscal year 2017.
While such caravans have occurred semi-regularly over the years, this one has become a particularly hot topic ahead of US midterm elections in early November, and an immigrant rights activist traveling with the group accused Trump of using it to stir up his Republican base.
Police also set up two checkpoints where they appeared to block migrants as a senior police officer said they meant to "enforce our country's laws".
Many Mexicans have turned out to help the migrants, handing out food and sometimes clothes in each town where they stop.
He said, without offering evidence, that "Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in", that the situation was a national emergency and blamed Democrats, urging people to vote in next month's midterm elections. "But I don't think about that because I'm thinking about my family and the truth is, like I say, we are not delinquent, we are not trying to ruin things".
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He said it is possible that full employment levels are much lower than in the past due to the different nature of the workforce. College-educated workers have long enjoyed lower rates of unemployment, and more Americans now have college degrees.
Highlighting the dangers the migrants face, one 25-year-old man in the caravan was killed Monday, apparently when he fell off a vehicle that had let him hitch a ride, said state authorities in Chiapas.
José Anibal Rivera, 52, an unemployed Honduran security guard from San Pedro Sula crossed into Mexico by raft Sunday and walked up to Tapachula from Ciudad Hidalgo to join the caravan.
"They just took this blockade away, all the police left and the caravan kept marching", journalist James Fredrick reported for NPR.
As Trump has tweeted his criticisms, the caravan has continued to grow.
Several groups accused the Mexican government in a statement of "arbitrary detentions" and "grave human rights violations" for detaining migrants who tried to enter the country legally and file asylum claims.
United States administrations have long seen aid programmes as an essential part of efforts to stabilize the countries of Central America and stem the flow of migrants leaving.
"No one is capable of organizing this many people", Mujica said, adding that there are only two forces driving this: "hunger and death".
Ana Guefaro said she hoped for help from the US.
"These, for the most part, overwhelmingly, are people who are either fleeing violence or looking for a better life", said Flake.
