On Monday, a top Republican said of Trump’s plan to cut aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, “it would make the situation worse, not better”. Despite efforts from Mexico’s President, Andres Obrador, to negotiate with Trump to foster economic development in the region, known as the Northern Triangle, Congress has decided to cut aid over migration issues.
Republicans and Democrats alike are unhappy with this plan, saying it will worsen the current situation with these countries and that the plan is “shortsighted and flawed”. In addition, aides have pointed out that Congress, not the President, has the power to determine government spending, which Trump did without legislative approval.
The situation will not only affect the countries of the Northern Triangle- Obrador is currently feeling the pressure to find a solution to the border shutdown with Trump, otherwise risking losing 80% of Mexico’s exports at the US border. Obrador is now promising to regulate the flow of migration from Central America to the United States in order to avoid further confrontations with the US.
The Trump Administration is promising to send hundreds of officers to the border in order to deal with the migrant crisis and will “immediately expand” their controversial policy of returning Central American migrants to Mexico as they wait for their asylum claims to be heard.
When asked about the prospect of putting more pressure on Central American countries to reduce migration, Obrador responded, “Obviously, we have to help because Central American migrants pass through our territory and we have to bring order to this migration, make sure it’s legal.” He also claims that issues of migration were “not being attended to” and more opportunities needed to be provided for the immigrants from Central America.
I thought this article was interesting because it demonstrated the inter-party differences in the United States- not all Republicans are agreeing with Trump’s plans. In addition, I did not know that Mexico relied so heavily on the United States for its economy and I can completely see why this crisis is such a priority for Obrador. I wonder what will happen with the relations between the United States and Mexico, because, as a businessman, I don’t know if Trump would actually want to cut off all of that trade, and I know that the situation in Mexico would be dire if the border was closed.
If Trump does cut this aid to Central America, which, according to the article, is a large amount of money, I wonder what it will be used towards. Will it fund Trump’s wall? Security? Addressing the migrant crisis? I also wonder what will happen to all of the migrants turned away from the United States- similarly to our simulation, I don’t think Mexico can permanently handle such a large influx of migrants. The solution, rather than being between the United States and Mexico, should probably be within these “Northern Triangle” countries in order to slow the amount of immigration altogether.