On Friday, Honduran Foreign Minister Mireya Aguero de Corrales said it was “incomprehensible” that the United States is spending more on its border security than foreign aid to Honduras.
In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, de Corrales said instead of spending so much money on “border controls,” the United states should spend more of its taxpayer dollars on the “root causes” of migration–like poverty and crime in her nation.
She said it was “incomprehensible” that of the $3.7 billion that President Barack Obama requested, only $300 million deals with “repatriation and deportation” problems of Central American nations.
Obama met with the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador on Friday, and some members of Congress have emphasized that foreign aid should be cut off until those nations do a better job of discouraging their citizens from trying to illegally enter the United States.
Nearly 75% of the illegal immigrant juveniles who have been apprehended since October of last year have come from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Federal officials expect 150,000 more will be caught in the next fiscal year. Immigrants from Central America also send billions of dollars in remittances back home every year, significantly boosting the GDP of their nations.
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