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Trump Threatens to Kill All US Aid to Small, Poor Country Over Immigration – Here’s Why That Would Be a Disaster

Maybe Trump Just Wants to Be a Totalitarian Dictator and Doesn’t Care About Human Beings at All?

President Donald Trump has just threatened the President of Honduras, a tiny, impoverished, Central American country. Via Twitter, Trump says he “strongly informed” President Juan Orlando Hernández that “effective immediately!” if he does not stop a “caravan” of about 1,600 people making their way to the U.S. border, he will cut off all aid to Honduras.

Not all of the 1600 are from Honduras, but Trump won’t care when they reach the U.S. border. It’s unclear what the President of Honduras can do once the migrants leave his country.

Honduras is a small and very poor country, ravaged by drugs, gangs, and the environment. Some of its people and communities never recovered from hurricanes that batter the land. Up until 2016 it was labeled the “murder capital of the world.”

America gives this country what amounts to a drop in the bucket of international aid: just $127 million. By comparison, that’s about as much as the asking price ($125 million) of a Palm Beach mansion Trump sold to a Russian oligarch in 2008.

What does Honduras do with that money?

“USAID programs in Honduras seek to promote a more prosperous and safer Honduras that advances inclusive social and economic development among populations most at risk of crime and violence and those living below the poverty line,” the U.S. government’s USAID website states. “USAID works to increase the security of vulnerable populations in urban, high-crime areas; sustainably reduce extreme poverty for vulnerable populations in western Honduras; and create a more transparent and accountable national government.”

In other words, that money is used to make living conditions in Honduras a tiny bit better, so its citizens won’t want to leave, and come to the United States.

“The goals of strengthening democracy and promoting viable economic growth are also intended to encourage Hondurans to avoid leaving their country and are especially important given the country’s geographical proximity to the United States,” according to the U.S. Dept. of State.

Where does the $127 million come from?

U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the U.S Dept. of State, and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human services, to name a few.

The funds are not blank checks, and they are used for specific purposes dictated by the U.S. government.

But the bottom line is if Trump cuts off all aid to Honduras, conditions will worsen, more people will want to leave, and immigration will become an even greater problem.

But perhaps that’s Trump’s goal. Or maybe, he just wants to be a totalitarian dictator and doesn’t care about human beings at all?

Categories: EDITORIAL