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REUTERS
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to begin curtailing tens of millions of dollars in aid to three Central American nations and called a caravan of migrants bound for the United States a national emergency as he sought to boost his party's chances in Nov 6 congressional elections.
"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 We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them,"Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts.
Trump and his fellow Republicans have sought to elevate the caravan, which has made its way into Mexico bound for the US border, and immigration as campaign issues ahead of the midterm elections, in which his party is fighting to maintain control of the US Senate and House of Representatives.
"Remember the Midterms!"Trump wrote in Twitter posts decrying the caravan and attacking Democrats on immigration, as Republicans sought to energise their conservative political base.
Trump, who has taken a hard line toward illegal immigration since taking office last year, also wrote that he had alerted the US military and Border Patrol"that this is a National Emergy,"though he did not say what actions he was planning. He also complained that Mexico's police and military"are unable to stop"the caravan.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said it is estimated that the caravan includes more than 7,000 people."At this time, it is estimated that the caravan comprises some 7,233 persons, many of whom intend to continue the march north"toward the United States.
At least 5,000 migrants, mostly Honduran, massed late on Sunday in the Mexican city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border, local police said. About another 1,000 migrants were walking toward them from Ciudad Hidalgo further south, according to a Reuters witness.
Since Trump became president last year, the US has already moved to sharply decrease aid to Central America.
In 2016, the United States provided some $131.2 million in aid to Guatemala, $98.3 million to Honduras, and $67.9 million to El Salvador, according to US data. By next year, those sums were projected to fall to $69.4 million for Guatemala, $65.8 million for Honduras and $45.7 million for El Salvador. The cuts amount to a reduction of almost 40 percent for the three nations.
Trump was not specific about further aid cuts. Trump also said, without providing evidence, that"Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners"are mixed in with the caravan, a claim immigration advocates disputed.
Haq said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala over the weekend and that an"emergency team"of personnel representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had been sent to southern Mexico.
Immigration advocacy groups said cutting US aid would be counterproductive to the goal of stemming a flow of migrants.
