U.S. eases up, won't cut aid entirely to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras

Just hours after announcing that the U.S. planned on cutting off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, as President Trump ordered in March, the State Department on Monday night said it will move forward with $432 million in projects and grants already approved by Congress.

The Trump administration said it was stopping aid as a way to pressure the countries into doing more about the high number of undocumented migrants from Central America coming to the United States. The asylum seekers are fleeing poverty and violence, and several lawmakers argue that cutting off aid is cruel and counterproductive if you want to slow down migrants flows.

The continued funding, from the 2017 budget, supports health, poverty alleviation, and education programs that were too far advanced to end. The State Department said the Trump administration will work with Congress to determine what to do with an additional $200 million in approved funds it is diverting from the three countries, and some $370 million from the 2018 budget will be moved to other projects.

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