ASSESSMENTS

Trump's Latest Proposal to Deter Migrants Risks Doing the Opposite

Apr 15, 2019 | 09:00 GMT

Migrants wait in a detention area on March 31, 2019, in El Paso, Texas.

Migrants wait in an El Paso, Texas, detention facility on March 31. In an effort to curb rising illegal immigration from Central America, the Trump administration is considering limiting transfers of money from migrants working in the United States to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

(JUSTIN SULLIVAN/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • In an effort to curb rising illegal immigration from Central America, U.S. President Donald Trump is considering limiting transfers of money from migrants working in the United States to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
  • But even relatively mild measures — such as denying or delaying more transfers through increased scrutiny by the U.S. Treasury Department — threaten the already tenuous economic and political situations in these Central American countries.
  • Reducing remittances would also likely accelerate Central American efforts to seek additional foreign aid and trade links with China, though the United States wields significant economic influence to hamper this trend.
  • In the end, the Trump administration's efforts could actually drive more migrants to the border by exacerbating the factors they often seek to escape, such as high crime, poverty and food shortages.

Quelling illegal immigration was the core of Donald Trump's political platform in 2016, and it remains a key issue for his administration and supporters. But the growing number of Central Americans who are now reaching the U.S.-Mexico border risks undercutting this political message ahead of the 2020 presidential election. In response, the Trump administration is mulling unprecedented measures to quickly deter illegal border crossings, such as blocking migrant workers from sending money back home....

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