Rep. Candice Miller: No Foreign Aid to Central America Until They Deter Illegal Immigration

At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) said America should not give foreign aid to Central American countries until they shape up and stop illegal immigrant children from coming to America. 

The White House Friday announced more than $250 million more in aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador – the three countries from which most of the illegal immigrant kids have arrived – and Miller pointed out that some of this USAID money in the past has been used “for climate change” and “addressing the gender gap in education.” She said that money would be better used in America’s inner cities like Detroit. 

“No more money from America until they step up their own responsibilities… and stop their citizens from illegally migrating to the United States,” Miller said. “I think we need to stop foreign aid to Centrals immediately.”

Miller said there is no doubt Central American nations have “bad economies and violence,” but she said those countries have been facing those conditions for some time. She said that is not the primary reason why “we suddenly have tens of thousands of children” flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Miller, who is the Vice Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, has previously accused the White House of “fueling” the “unprecedented surge of immigrant children being smuggled across our southern border” with “tone-deaf” ceremonies that flaunt “the success stories of ten immigrant children who entered the U.S. illegally.”

“How can we expect to dispel rumors throughout Central America that children who enter America illegally will be allowed to stay while simultaneously touting the success stories of a few illegal immigrant children granted de facto amnesty by the administration?” Miller said after the White House honored ten recipients of temporary amnesty under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action program. “The sad truth is that most of the children being smuggled across the border today, in unprecedented numbers, will not have similar success stories.”