BORDER/CENTRAL AMERICA/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump, in his most recent rebuke of Central American nations for what he says is their failure to address the issue of migration, announced plans to cut off aid to three nations — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — known as the Northern Triangle. Critics of the cuts say they will target programs aimed at preventing violence, curbing extreme poverty and hunger, and strengthening the justice system — the very problems residents of those countries give for leaving home and pursuing a more stable future elsewhere. Though the administration has offered little in the way of details about what precisely could be cut, the State Department notified Congress on Friday [3-29-19] night that it would divert about $450 million in aid from the region. President Trump also threatened to seal off the southern border of the United States with Mexico if that country ‘doesn’t get with it.’ So what’s really at stake, and what types of programs could these cuts affect in each nation? The United States Agency for International Development describes the multiyear Strategy for Central America, which is responsible for dispersing much of this aid, as focused on institutional reforms and developmental challenges that drive migration.”
–Megan Specia, “Trump Wants to Cut Aid to Central America. Here Are Some of the Dozens of U.S.-Funded Programs.,” The New York Times online, April 2, 2019