Trump: US to begin cutting aid to Central America over migrant caravan

US President Donald Trump says the United States will begin cutting aid to three Central American nations because of their governments’ failure to stop a migrant caravan headed for the US border.

In a series of tweets, Trump calls the caravan’s approach a national emergency and said he has alerted the US border patrol and military, setting the stage for a confrontation when the swelling mass of migrants reach the border.

“We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid” that the United States provides to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, he says.

“Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in,” he says on Twitter.

“I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy (sic). Must change laws!”

It was unclear what formal action, if any, Trump had taken to activate the military or the border patrol.

Thousands of people seeking to escape poverty and violence in their homelands have pushed into Mexico despite efforts to hold back the migrant caravan at a bridge on the Guatemala-Mexico border.

Around 3,000 migrants reached the city of Tapachula in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Sunday after a seven-hour trek from the Guatemalan border.

— AFP