Trump threatens to cut off aid to Honduras unless it stops migrant caravan
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cancel aid to Honduras unless a group of Honduran migrants making its way toward the United States is stopped and returned to its home country.
“The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!” Trump wrote Tuesday morning, among a diverse flurry of tweets.
The “caravan” comment referred to a group of hundreds of migrants who are fleeing poverty and gang violence in Honduras, spilling into Guatemala, which lies between Honduras and Mexico. The migrants overwhelmed Guatemalan border guards, who eventually allowed the group to pass and accompanied them deep into the country, The Associated Press reported.
Trump’s threat reflects his America First campaign rhetoric, which spurned foreign entanglements. Trump has advocated rolling back foreign aid, which represents less than 1 percent of federal spending, and his administration attempted to kill $3 billion in foreign aid over the summer.
The migrants set out from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Friday, a day after Vice President Mike Pence met with the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras urging them to keep their citizens from coming to the United States.
“Tell your people: Don’t put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally,” Pence said.
But the migrants showed no signs of stopping as they trekked onward toward Mexico, the AP reported Monday.