Nov. 8, 2018–Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to stop the flow of migration coming from their countries, the presidents of Guatemala and Honduras are urging migrants to return home and calling for an investigation to determine the cause of the latest waves of migration.
Honduran President Juan Hernández said the migrants “were tricked into embarking on this irregular crossing, which was organized for political ends,” Xinhua news reported. He promised to generate more jobs for Hondurans by investing in infrastructure.
Meeting with Hernández on Monday in Tegucigalpa, Guatemala President Jimmy Morales said he shares his concerns and wants to prosecute people who incited and directed the migration caravan.
“We are very much in agreement with President Hernández and we have been talking to the high authorities of Mexico,” Morales said in Spanish, as reported by the Honduran publication Criterio. “We have asked the United States and El Salvador to make a thorough investigation of who are the people responsible for this type of caravan and this type of migration that puts the lives of citizens, the region and any other part of the world at risk I want to do it.”
A Mexico City Stopover
Since earlier this week, about 4,500 people in the migration caravan from Central America are staying in a sports stadium in Mexico City.
They are awaiting a meeting with President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has promised to provide Mexican work visas, La Tribuna reported.
The caravan, which started in early October in San Pedro Sula, Honduras with about two hundred of people swelled to over 7,000 people. Many migrants have since returned home. Others are deciding next steps. They are reportedly considering staying in Mexico or migrating to the United States to a point of entry in either to California or Texas.
U.S. Aid Is Conditional
Trump has threatened to cut off funding for Central American countries if they don’t stop the flow of migration coming from their countries.
The U.S. government spent $615 million in fiscal year 2018 for its Central American Strategy, which includes $69.4 million for Guatemala and $65.8 million for Honduras. For this year, funding continues at last year’s level, based on a continuing resolution lasting until Dec. 7, 2018.
The Trump Administration has “significant discretion” to withhold funds, congressional sources say, since the appropriations act of 2018 made the funds conditional. According to a Congressional Research Service report, the U.S. State Department requires the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to:
- Inform their citizens of the dangers of irregular migration, combat human smuggling and trafficking, improve border security and cooperate with the United States to repatriate citizens who do not qualify for asylum back in their countries; and
- Combat corruption, gangs and organized crime, reduce poverty and promote equitable growth, protect the rights of journalists, political opposition parties and human rights defenders.
A Closer Look At the Funds
A Global Economic Report examination into U.S. funding for Central America found that U.S.-based public and private agencies control the aid distribution.
Overall, U.S. appropriations go to a wide-range of initiatives, including agriculture development, sustainable economic growth, literacy, workforce development, pandemic influenza control, government debt and finance reorganization, and activities of the Honduran National Anti-Corruption Council.
The funds are distributed to nongovernment organizations like the Catholic Relief Services, FHI 360, World Vision, and Fintrac, Inc, among others.
Several U.S. agencies are involved in managing the distributions. They include: the State Department, USAID, Defense Department, Treasury Department, Inter-American Foundation, Department of Agriculture, the Interior Department and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Root Causes
Despite the Central American leaders’ focus on an investigation into the latest wave of migration, many Honduran migrants say they are fleeing violence, poverty and a corrupt political system. That is not surprising considering widespread agreement about the conditions in their country.
“Alarming levels of crime and violence, high levels of poverty and food insecurity, and ineffective governance and corruption all threaten Honduras’ fragile democracy,” read a description by the U.S. State Department.
Approximately 66 percent of Hondurans live in poverty, and the country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, the Congressional Research Service reported.
Furthermore, under the current conditions, migration out of the country is all but inevitable, even by the U.S. government’s assessment.
“Population growth and limited job prospects outside of agriculture will continue to drive emigration,” says the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
