3/28/2019

BORDER/CENTRAL AMERICA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump criticized Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras on Thursday [3-28-19] for accepting monetary aid from the United States but doing nothing in return, a day after his homeland security secretary struck what she described as a historic agreement with three of those same countries to help strengthen security on the United States’ southwestern border. Mr. Trump also threatened to close the border, a move he has previously considered, which would have a significant economic impact by disrupting the flow of trade and labor. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen met on Tuesday with Mexican officials in Miami and on Wednesday with Central American officials in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to discuss the humanitarian crisis and what the Trump administration considers a security emergency at the United States-Mexico border…The countries agreed to continue having conversations about ways to counter human trafficking, smuggling, organized crime and gangs, and to improve border security throughout the region.

Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Criticizes Central American Nations on Border Security,” The New York Times online, March 28, 2019