Pompeo To Seek Central America Crackdown On US-Bound Migrants In Visit To Region

The United States will seek action by three nations in the so called Central America Triangle in exchange for efforts to halt waves of migrants planning to cross the southwestern US border, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2019) The United States will seek action by three nations in the so called Central America Triangle in exchange for efforts to halt waves of migrants planning to cross the southwestern US border, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Wednesday.

"When I travel to the Northern Triangle and indeed when I'm in South America this week, I want to talk about the importance of each of these countries taking on their responsibility to ensure that the United States problem on its southern border is mitigated," Pompeo told KCMO Radio.

Pompeo noted that President Donald Trump had cut off US aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras because the three triangle nations had failed to deliver an acceptable outcome on migration to the United States despite having receiving hundreds of millions in American aid.

"They've now expressed some willingness," Pompeo said. "We need to work alongside them to deliver on this outcome."

While Pompeo did not mention the prospect of renewed US aid, his remarks implied that halting US-bound migration would be a prerequisite for talks on restoring aid.

Critics of Trump's immigration policies charge that in the long run, US aid acts to slow migration by promoting economic development in affected nations and that cutting aid will exacerbate the crisis.

Pompeo plans to visit El Salvador on a four-nation trip to Latin America that begins on Thursday, with stops in Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico.

More than 1 million migrants from the Northern Triangle are expected to cross the border as illegal aliens this year.