President Donald Trump warned that he will deploy the military to the southern U.S. border if Mexico doesn’t stop the flow of migrants from Central America, most of whom end up entering the United States illegally.
In 2017, the United States sent about $530 million in aid to the three countries.
Mexico’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said he considers the increasing flow of migrants an “assault on our country” led by the Democratic Party, which has blocked Republican proposals to overhaul and tighten the immigration system and improve border security, including building a wall along the southern border.
Caravan
In an Oct. 16 tweet, Trump said he “strongly informed” Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández that he’d halt aid if a large caravan heading from the small country toward the United States isn’t stopped and returned.As many as 3,000 people crossed into Guatemala from Honduras after a standoff with police in riot gear on Oct. 15, according to the organizers—activists from the leftist Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) party, which controls almost a quarter of the Honduran legislature and advocates socialism.
The Honduran Foreign Ministry called on its citizens not to join the caravan. The government “urges the Hondurans taking part in this irregular mobilization not to be used by a movement that is clearly political,” it said.
One of the four caravan organizers, former Libre lawmaker Bartolo Fuentes, was detained by Guatemalan police after crossing the border. The Honduran security ministry said Fuentes had been detained because he “didn’t comply with Guatemalan immigration rules” and would be deported back to Honduras.
Some migrants have since turned around and headed home, but many are continuing the trek.
Mexico sent two jetliners of federal police officers to its southern border to intercept the caravan, USA Today reported on Oct. 17.
The Mexican ambassador to Guatemala met with the migrants on Oct. 17 and warned them of the dangers of “irregular entry” into Mexico, especially human traffickers. The trafficking networks are controlled by drug cartels and use drug-smuggling routes to help the migrants cross the U.S. border illegally. Previous reports by media and human-rights organizations say that up to 80 percent of the women are raped by gang members, traffickers, or other migrants before reaching the U.S. border.
The ambassador told the migrants that Mexico has a process for applying for refugee status. While those who reach the United States commonly apply for asylum, most aren’t eligible because they aren’t fleeing state persecution, but instead escaping abysmal conditions in their countries.
Violent Countries
El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala all suffer from widespread poverty and high rates of violent crime; their murder rates are some of the highest in the world.Honduras has faced an escalation of violence since its government was destabilized by a military coup in 2009. Then-President Manuel Zelaya was turning the country in a leftist direction and eventually was accused of attempting to illegally prompt a rewriting of the constitution. But, instead of a legal removal from office, he was detained by the military and forced into exile.
The coup gave rise to a leftist movement, the National Popular Resistance Front (a predecessor of Libre), which organized large marches and civil disobedience. The interim regime then suppressed the crowds with force, sometimes deadly.