Trump takes steps to cut aid to 3 nations
FLORIDA, United States (AP) — US President Donald Trump is taking the first steps to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, whose citizens are fleeing north and overwhelming US resources at the southern border.
The State Department says it will work with Congress to suspend 2017 and 2018 payments to the trio of nations. All have been home to some of the migrant caravans that have marched through Mexico to the US border.
Trump has turned the caravans into the symbol of what he says are the dangers of illegal immigration.
The president also has returned to a previous threat he never carried out — closing the border with Mexico. He brought up that possibility on Friday and revisited it in tweets Saturday, despite warnings that a closed border could create economic havoc on both sides.
