Giving Compass' Take:

• Joe McCarthy highlights some of the reasons that the Trump administration's plan to cut foreign aid to Central America may be counterproductive.

• How might anti-violence groups need to adapt to close gaps created by funding cuts?

• Learn more about the factors driving Central American immigration to the United States.

The Trump administration announced on Mar. 30, 2019 that it plans to eliminate foreign aid to Latin America’s Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers coming from the region to the United States.

President Donald Trump also said that he was considering shutting down the US-Mexico border, which facilitates $1.7 billion in trade every day, to stop border crossings.

The US spends less than 1% of its Gross Domestic Product on foreign aid, and just 2% of its international affairs budget goes to Mexico and other Central American countries.

The Northern Triangle has some of the highest murder rates in the world, and gang violence has made daily life perilous for millions of people. Various studies have tied the rise in gang violence to an increase in migration.

The results of these efforts are hard to argue with. In neighborhoods where USAID operates in the Northern Triangle, murder rates have declined by up to 78%.

“We have some of the same objectives as the current administration,” [Ken Baker, the co-founder and CEO of Glasswing] added. “If your goal is to stop migration, you need to be where it’s being created.”

He also said that continuing to fund foreign aid in the Northern Triangle has clear benefits for the US, even from the perspective of the Trump administration.

“[Foreign aid] helps build relationships with governments, it helps meet goals for US business and expand market opportunities, and while there are always challenges with it, this foreign aid that we’re talking about to the Northern Triangle is not a lot of money,” Baker said.

“Its pennies on the dollar, compared to what we’re dealing with at the US border,” he added.

Read the full article about Central American aid by Joe McCarthy at Global Citizen.