Trump Says He's Ending Central American Aid Over Migrant Caravan

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will cut off foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as thousands of migrants continued to march from Central America toward the U.S. border.

Trump has sought to escalate undocumented immigration as an issue ahead of pivotal midterm congressional elections on Nov. 6, and he has blamed the so-called “caravan” of Central American migrants on Democrats. “Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws!” he said earlier on Twitter.

Cutting aid isn’t as simple as turning off a tap. Much of the money for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras was appropriated by Congress in the form of anti-corruption and good-governance programs. Those initiatives have broad support from lawmakers, who have already promised to put up a fight should Trump try to make good on his threat.

“Fortunately, Congress — not the President — has the power of the purse, and my colleagues and I will not stand idly by as this administration ignores congressional intent,” Representative Eliot Engel of New York, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement emailed to reporters.

The U.S. provided more than $175 million in foreign aid to Honduras in the 2017 fiscal year, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. Guatemala received $249 million and El Salvador $115 million.