Trump threatens to cut aid to Honduras over migrants.

Pedro_P

▼ President Donald Trump has threatened to cut financial aid to Honduras over a large group of migrants heading towards the US border.
In a Tweet posted on Tuesday, Mr Trump said the country's president was told funds would be cut "immediately" if the group was not stopped and returned.
Honduras has a long history of poverty and corruption. It also has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
The group of at least 1,500 migrants grew rapidly in size over the weekend.
Mr Trump later also warned Honduras's neighbours, Guatemala and El Salvador, that their governments could face their funds being cut if they allowed the migrants to pass through their countries on their way north.
About 160 people originally set off on Friday from San Pedro Sula, a notorious Honduran crime hotspot.
They pushed across the border into Guatemala on Monday, despite a heavy police presence and government order attempting to block their route.
Shortly after Mr Trump's tweet, it was reported that Bartolo Fuentes, one of the caravan's organisers and a former Honduran legislator, had been detained by Guatemalan authorities to be deported back to Honduras.
This is the second time Mr Trump has threatened Honduras's aid over migrants, in April saying it was "in play" over another group.
The US sent more than $175m (£130m) to  the country in 2016 and 2017,according to the US Agency for International Development.
Officials in Mexico and the US have been monitoring the migrants, who have formed what is known as "a caravan", over the past few days, and issuing warnings about their rights to enter their countries.
Last week, Vice President Mike Pence urged Central American countries to do more to prevent mass migration.
"Tell your people: don't put your families at risk by taking the dangerous journey north to attempt to enter the United States illegally," Mr Pence said.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Honduras foreign ministry urged its citizens against joining the caravan, dismissing it as a political ploy to " to disrupt the governability, stability and peace of our countries".
Why did they leave Honduras?
Honduras, which has a population of about nine million, has endemic problems with gang violence, drug wars and corruption.
According to the World Bank, more than  60% of the population lives in poverty, with one in five people living in extreme poverty.
The country is led by President Juan  Orlando Hernandez - who was re-elected in  November 2017 in a contested votewhich led to election violence and protests.
Jari Dixon, a Honduran politician, Tweeted  on Monday (in Spanish)that the caravan was not "seeking the American dream" but "fleeing the Honduras nightmare".
Keilin Umana, a pregnant 21 year old in the caravan, told the Associated Press that she had left Honduras because she and her unborn child had been threatened with death at home.
Another woman, 24-year-old Andrea Fernandez, who is travelling with three children under seven, told Reuters she could not find work and feared for her family's safety.
"We're going to drop in on Donald Trump. He has to take us in," she told the news agency.
Earlier this year it was announced that thousands of migrants from Honduras are  to lose their temporary protected status  within the US by 2020.
What could happen now? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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kkh

My Personal opinion is that Trump is USA's biggest political mistake

Rhett_Bassard

kkh 17-10-2018 11:06 PM
My Personal opinion is that Trump is USA's biggest political mistake

And yet, these Hondurans believe in #TheDon, e.g. "We're going to drop in on Donald Trump. He has to take us in,"


IMHO, it's no political mistake to enforce the law of the land, including immigration law. I also have to applaud critical thinking: if neighbors [and supposed allies] are complicient in letting the caravan pass, penalize them with the tools available.


I've lived in 3 [non-native] countries for years at a time and first secured visas, health and police record clearances for all of them.