Does Cutting U.S. Aid Help or Hurt Central America?
In ending aid to the Northern Triangle in an effort to halt migration, Trump is making the right move for the wrong reasons
How do you stop someone from migrating? It’s the implicit question that defines the Trump administration’s policy agenda. And, so far, despite all the rhetoric and bombast, the White House seems unable to answer it.
Interdiction strategies — that is, arrests and deportations at the hands of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — drive people into the shadows, harass communities, and often only ensure that would-be migrants eventually will try once again to cross into the U.S. The child-separation policy, which left so much of the American public in a collective state of horror, was premised on the notion that ripping kids out of their parents’ arms would serve as an immigration deterrent. It didn’t work: In September, after the child-separation policy hit a crescendo, more family units than ever were recorded crossing the U.S.-Mexico border — a trend that’s only continued in the months since.
As the administration continues to purge top-level Department of Homeland Security members and replace them with officials willing to be “tougher” on immigration, it’s also trying another…
