(CNN) The United States is cutting off aid to the Northern Triangle, otherwise known as the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the State Department told CNN Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump said they had "set up" migrant caravans for entry into the United States.

"We were paying them tremendous amounts of money. And we're not paying them anymore. Because they haven't done a thing for us. They set up these caravans," Trump said Friday.

"At the Secretary's instruction, we are carrying out the President's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," a State Department spokesperson said. "We will be engaging Congress as part of this process."

The government of Honduras responded to the announcement later Saturday, blaming "contradictory policies" by US agencies for the move.

Officials in Tegucigalpa said they would continue working with El Salvador and Guatemala on the Northern Triangle initiatives while "internal discrepancies over regional cooperation are resolved."

Read More</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, known collectively as the “Northern Triangle,” the State Department said on Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump blasted the Central American countries for sending migrants to the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

“We are carrying out the President’s direction and ending FY (fiscal year) 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. The department declined to provide further details.

The State Department said it would “engage Congress in the process,” an apparent acknowledgement that it will need lawmakers’ approval to end the funding.

A U.S. House Appropriations Committee aide estimated that around $700 million of aid was affected.

Democratic Representative Nita Lowey, who chairs the committee, tweeted that the move to cut aid was “immoral and more likely to deteriorate conditions that push people into the kind of poverty and despair that exacerbates migration.”

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump’s order a “reckless announcement” and urged Democrats and Republicans alike to reject it.

“U.S. foreign assistance is not charity; it advances our strategic interests and funds initiatives that protect American citizens,” Menendez said in a statement.

Trump claimed on Friday during a trip to Florida that the countries had “set up” caravans of migrants in order to export them into the United States. A surge of asylum seekers from the three countries have sought to enter the United States across its southern border in recent days.

“We were giving them $500 million. We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us,” Trump said.

Trump also threatened on Friday to close the U.S. border with Mexico next week if Mexico does not stop immigrants from reaching the United States, a move that could disrupt millions of legal border crossings and billions of dollars in trade.</s>In a stunning about-face, State Department officials said that President Donald Trump is cutting off all direct assistance to the so-called Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

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“At the Secretary’s instruction, we are carrying out the President’s direction and ending FY [fiscal year] 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News, referring to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “We will be engaging Congress as part of this process.”

These three countries are the primary source of migrants to the U.S., but for years the U.S. has worked with them to stabilize their political environments and economies and end violence and corruption so that migrants wouldn’t leave in the first place.

Trump hinted at the cuts earlier on Friday, telling reporters,”I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras, and to El Salvador. No money goes there anymore.”

While the president has threatened these cuts before, this time the administration is actually following through.

Gregory Bull/AP

Trump said the funds totaled $500 million, but it wasn’t clear Friday if that figure was accurate. The State Department announced in December that the U.S. would mobilize $5.8 billion in public and private american investment to these three countries.

“We’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us,” he added.

His senior-most advisers, however, have carried a very different tune, talking very often about the importance of this assistance to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was in Mexico and Honduras this week meeting with their leadership to sign new partnership agreements. Pompeo testified before the House of Representatives on Wednesday about the administration's efforts, saying the president had instructed him and Nielsen to use U.S. funding to "develop a set of programs that reward effective outcomes, that reward good leadership, that get us to a place where we actually achieve the outcomes."

In a speech in Brazil last June, Vice President Mike Pence touted the “significant resources” the administration was putting toward this effort, though much of those resources were allocated under former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Felix Marquez/AP, FILE

“The United States of America has never been more committed to strengthening our partnership with the nations in the Northern Triangle to help ... tackle the problems facing our shared neighborhood,” Pence said in October when hosting leaders from the Northern Triangle and Mexico at the State Department with Pompeo.

Trump's previous threats to pull the plug, however, had often left U.S. officials scratching their heads and straining to explain why these funds described as key to stemming migration would be cut off -- as punishment for not stemming migration.

When Pompeo was challenged on the president’s previous threatening tweets on Wednesday, he told Congress, "I’m not going to comment on my evaluation. You asked me about the U.S. policy, and I’ve done my level-best to articulate it."</s>The United States will no longer provide foreign assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

A State Department spokesperson told The Hill in a statement Saturday that the agency was directed by President Trump Donald John Trump5 things to watch in critical NC race Remembering 9/11: How the suicide attacks led to two vastly different wars Conservative strategist calls Steyer's 2020 bid a 'vanity run' MORE to halt aid to the so-called Northern Triangle countries.

"At the Secretary’s instruction, we are carrying out the President’s direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," the statement said. "We will be engaging Congress as part of this process."

The Hill has contacted the White House for comment.

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Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele NielsenFox's Cavuto roasts Trump over criticism of network DOJ to Supreme Court: Trump decision to end DACA was lawful Top immigration aide experienced 'jolt of electricity to my soul' when Trump announced campaign MORE said in a statement Friday that she signed a "historic" regional compact this week with representatives of the Northern Triangle countries. She said the countries agreed to "combat human smuggling and trafficking, crack down on transnational criminals fueling the crisis, and strengthen border security to prevent irregular migration."

President Trump on Friday said that the countries "set up" migrant caravans, according to CNN.

"We were paying them tremendous amounts of money. And we're not paying them anymore. Because they haven't done a thing for us. They set up these caravans," he reportedly said.

Trump previously threatened to cut off aid to the countries in December over alleged caravans, accusing them of "doing nothing for the United States but taking our money."

Sen. Bob Menendez Robert (Bob) MenendezAs NFIP reauthorization deadline looms, Congress must end lethal subsidies Senate Democrats warn Trump: Don't invite Putin to G-7 Pelosi warns Mnuchin to stop 'illegal' .3B cut to foreign aid MORE (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement denouncing the move.

"If carried out, President Trump’s irresponsible decision to cut off our assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras would undermine American interests and put our national security at risk," he said.

"U.S. foreign assistance is not charity; it advances our strategic interests and funds initiatives that protect American citizens. This latest reported move shows the Administration still does not understand that the United States cuts foreign aid to Central America at our own peril," he added.</s>The Trump administration says it is cutting direct U.S. aid to three Central American countries.

The State Department said in a statement that it will suspend 2017 and 2018 payments to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The Trump administration gave no immediate explanation for the move.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made slowing immigration from those countries through Mexico a bedrock issue of his presidency.

The announcement comes as Trump threatens to shut down the U.S. border with Mexico over immigration.

Congressional Democrats say Trump's move to cut aid will only increase the flow of immigrants to the U.S.

House foreign affairs committee chairman Eliot Engel and other lawmakers said in a statement that U.S. aid is helping those countries deal with the root causes of migration by families and children.</s>According to a report from CNN quoting a State Department representative, The United States will no longer provide aid to three South American countries: El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

The move comes less than a day after President Trump proposed to cut funding on Twitter.

The State Department cutting aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala is intended as punishment for what the US views as those countries not doing enough to stop illegal migration to the United States.

"Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country," Trump said on Friday. "They are all talk and no action. Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don't care, such BAD laws. May close the Southern Border!"

A representative from the US State Department confirmed that the United States is ending aid to the so-called Northern Triangle countries in South America, according to a statement sent to CNN.

Central American migrants, part of the caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border, move on a road in Tapachula, Chiapas State, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2019. A caravan of about 2,500 Central Americans and Cubans is currently making its way through Mexico's southern state of Chiapas. (AP Photo/Isabel Mateos) Associated Press

"At the Secretary's instruction, we are carrying out the President's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," the statement said.

The administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 included $45.7 million for El Salvador, $69.4 million for Guatemala and $65.8 million for Honduras, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Read more: Trump threatens to close the border 'next week' if Mexico doesn't 'immediately stop ALL illegal immigration' coming into the US

The move is in line with Trump's past statements on the three countries.

"Honduras is doing nothing for us. Guatemala is doing nothing for us. El Salvador is doing nothing for us. And we pay them hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but we're going to be stopping pretty soon," Trump said in January.

Moreover, Trump said he may close the US border with Mexico entirely in the coming week, "If Mexico doesn't immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border."

The US State Department didn't respond to a request for comment as of publishing.</s>Democratic lawmakers and other supporters of foreign aid to Central America fumed over the weekend following President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that he will cut hundreds of millions in assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, called the move “short-sighted and flawed,” and cautioned that it could inflame what he called a humanitarian crisis at the border. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it was “foreign policy by tweet” and demonstrated Trump’s ignorance of the funds' purpose.

Several House Democrats were visiting El Salvador when they heard the news. The group, which included Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees, respectively, ripped Trump’s approach in a joint written statement as “entirely counterproductive."

The Trump administration has intensified its argument in recent weeks that a high level of illegal immigration has created a crisis that demands additional resources and changes to existing laws. Trump warned Friday that he would close all legal trade and travel along the southwest border in the coming week unless Mexico steps up enforcement against migrants.

But critics point out that the aid the president will cut is aimed squarely at reducing illegal immigration and illicit trafficking by addressing the dire conditions in the three Northern Triangle region that are driving the northern migration.

Trump's threat to slash aid to Central America isn’t new — he's threatened repeatedly over the last year that he will cut it. But the president's latest pronouncement, made during a visit to Florida on Friday, was accompanied by action from the State Department.

“I've ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras and to El Salvador,” Trump said Friday. “We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we're not paying them anymore because they haven't done a thing for us.”

The aid money — part of an initiative launched by former President Barack Obama — aims to strengthen security and foster development in the three countries, and does not go to the governments directly. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development manage the bulk of the funds, and other agencies, including the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, also receive funding.

POLITICO reported last week that the White House budget office had not advanced a significant portion of the fiscal year 2018 funding amid confusion over Trump’s stance. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dodged questions about the funds' status during a House committee hearing Wednesday.

Following Trump’s announcement, the State Department informed several congressional offices Friday that $450 million in uncommitted funds from a March 2018 spending bill will be redirected to other initiatives and that the department will review already-committed funds from fiscal years 2017 and 2018 to determine whether they can be rerouted to other projects.

“At the secretary’s instruction, we are carrying out the president’s direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle,” a State Department spokeswoman told POLITICO. “We will be engaging Congress as part of this process.”

Whether the president can reroute the funding entirely remains unclear, according to three congressional aides familiar with how the process works. A reprogramming request could be held up by lawmakers who oppose the move, for example. Additionally, the administration could face legal challenges if it revokes funds that were already contracted. And backers of the aid may argue that withholding it amounts to illegal presidential impoundment of congressionally-appropriated funds.

Leahy’s office, which takes a lead role overseeing the funding, has directed the State Department to provide a detailed explanation of what it plans to cut and whether there will be exceptions. The department will be required to submit a congressional notification that describes the plan to lawmakers.

One Democratic congressional aide said State was “clearly scrambling to adjust U.S. policy based on [Trump‘s] comments.”

Central American officials publicly grappled with Trump’s decision, which came mere days after DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen traveled to Honduras to sign a security agreement with the three Northern Triangle nations to crack down on human trafficking, among other goals.

The office of the Honduran secretary for foreign affairs said in a statement Saturday that it will continue to promote regional development and security despite “contradictory policies” from the United States. Nayib Bukele, the president-elect of El Salvador, tweeted that he hopes the U.S. will reinstate or increase the funding when he takes office June 1.

Adriana Beltrán, a director with the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organization that tracks the funding, argued that the cut will worsen conditions in the countries — and potentially cause more people to trek to the U.S.

“It’s a shooting-yourself-in-the-foot policy,” she said of the cuts.</s>The United States is cutting off aid to the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, known collectively as the Northern Triangle, the State Department said Saturday, the day after President Donald Trump alleged that the countries had sent migrants to the United States. 

 

 "We are carrying out the president's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement. The State Department declined to provide further details or clarify the time periods involved. 

 

 The State Department said that it would "engage Congress in the process," an apparent acknowledgement that it will need lawmakers' approval to end the funding.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump's order a "reckless announcement" and urged Democrats and Republicans alike to reject it. 

 

 "U.S. foreign assistance is not charity; it advances our strategic interests and funds initiatives that protect American citizens," Menendez said in a statement. 

 

 Trump claimed Friday during a trip to Florida that the countries had "set up" caravans of migrants in order to export them into the United States. A surge of asylum seekers from the three countries have sought to enter the United States across its southern border in recent days. 

 

 "We were giving them $500 million. We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we're not paying them anymore because they haven't done a thing for us," Trump said. 

 

 Trump also threatened Friday to close the U.S. border with Mexico next week if Mexico does not stop immigrants from reaching the United States, a move that could disrupt millions of legal border crossings and billions of dollars in trade.</s>Taking one drastic action against illegal immigration and threatening another, President Donald Trump moved to cut U.S. aid to three Central American nations whose citizens are fleeing north and declared he is likely to close America's southern border next week unless Mexico halts the flow of migrants.

Though Trump has previously threatened to close the border and has not followed through, his administration moved to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The State Department said in a statement that it will work with Congress to suspend 2017 and 2018 payments to the trio of nations, which have been home to some of the migrant caravans that have marched through Mexico to the U.S. border.

The president emphasized "I am not kidding around" about closing the border, even though such a severe move could hit the economies of both countries.

"It could mean all trade" with Mexico, Trump said when questioned on Friday by reporters in Florida. "We will close it for a long time."

Amplified by conservative media, Trump has made those caravans the symbol of what he says are the dangers of illegal immigration, making them a central theme of his midterm campaigning last fall. Now with the special counsel's Russia probe seemingly behind him, Trump has revived his warnings of their presence.

Trump has been promising for more than two years to build a long, impenetrable wall along the border to stop illegal immigration, though Congress has been reluctant to provide the money he needs. In the meantime, he has repeatedly threatened to close the border, but this time, with a new group of migrants heading north , he gave a definite timetable and suggested a visit to the border within the next two weeks.

A substantial closure could have an especially heavy impact on cross-border communities from San Diego to South Texas, as well as supermarkets that sell Mexican produce, factories that rely on imported parts, and other businesses across the U.S.

The U.S. and Mexico trade about $1.7 billion in goods daily, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said closing the border would be "an unmitigated economic debacle" that would threaten 5 million American jobs.

RELATED: Officials aim to quadruple number of asylum seekers sent back over the border

RELATED: Trump threatens to close southern border if Mexico doesn't stop 'all illegal immigration'

Trump tweeted Friday morning, "If Mexico doesn't immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week."

He said several times that it would be "so easy" for Mexican authorities to stop immigrants passing through their country and trying to enter the U.S. illegally, "but they just take our money and 'talk.'"

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke out Saturday against cutting off aid to Central America, declaring that "foreign assistance is not charity; it advances our strategic interests and funds initiatives that protect American citizens."

And a group of House Democrats visiting El Salvador denounced the administration's decision to cut aid to the region.

"As we visit El Salvador evaluating the importance of U.S. assistance to Central America to address the root causes of family and child migration, we are extremely disappointed to learn that President Trump intends to cut off aid to the region," said the statement from five lawmakers, including Rep. Eliot L. Engel of New York, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The President's approach is entirely counterproductive."

The Trump administration has threatened before to scale back or cut off U.S. assistance to Central America. Congress has not approved most of those proposed cuts, however, and a report this year by the Congressional Research Service said any change in that funding would depend on what Congress does.

Short of a widespread border shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the U.S. might close designated ports of entry to re-deploy staff to help process parents and children. Ports of entry are official crossing points that are used by residents and commercial vehicles. Many people who cross the border illegally ultimately request asylum under U.S. law, which does not require asylum seekers to enter at an official crossing.

Border officials are also planning to more than quadruple the number of asylum seekers sent back over the border to wait out their immigration cases, said an administration official. The official said right now about 60 migrants per day are returned and officials are hoping to send as many as 300 per day. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal plans and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Trump's latest declaration came after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his country was doing its part to fight migrant smuggling. Criminal networks charge thousands of dollars a person to move migrants through Mexico, increasingly in large groups toward remote sections of the border.

"We want to have a good relationship with the government of the United States," Lopez Obrador said Friday. He added: "We are going to continue helping so that the migratory flow, those who pass through our country, do so according to the law, in an orderly way."

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's foreign relations secretary, tweeted that his country "doesn't act based on threats" and is "the best neighbor" the U.S. could have.

Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce in San Diego, said the mere threat of border closures sends the wrong message to businesses in Mexico and may eventually scare companies into turning to Asia for their supply chains.

"I think the impact would be absolutely devastating on so many fronts," said Mier y Teran, whose members rely on the Otay Mesa crossing to bring televisions, medical devices and a wide range of products to the U.S. "In terms of a long-term effect, it's basically shooting yourself in your foot. It's sending out a message to other countries that, 'Don't come because our borders may not work at any time.' That is extremely scary and dangerous."

Associated Press writers Peter Orsi in Mexico City, Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Colleen Long, Catherine Lucey and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.</s>President Trump has declared a national emergency in order to build a wall along the US-Mexico frontier JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS

President Trump plans to cut government aid to three Central American countries that he has accused of failing to stop migrants fleeing to the US.

The State Department said that it had been told to suspend money for programmes in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. While it did not say how much funding was at stake, about $500 million was allocated last year.

“We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we’re not paying them any more because they haven’t done a thing for us,” Mr Trump said in Florida last weekend.

Experts fear that cutting aid programmes will exacerbate problems in the three countries and force more people to migrate. The money has been spent on schemes including anti-gang initiatives, economic assistance for…
President Donald Trump directs the United States Department of State to cease aid for El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. This apparently reverses the regional compact agreement Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen signed on Wednesday with these countries and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's congressional testimony of the same day.