Recently, the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras agreed as a bloc to seek support from Mexico in response to the election of President-elect Donald Trump.
This move comes in response to the president-elect’s comments during a “60 Minutes” interview, where he vowed to deport unlawful immigrants with criminal records back to their country of origin.
But such knee-jerk reactions are quite shortsighted.
Rather than viewing Trump’s election as a challenge, these countries should capitalize on this unique opportunity to set the region on a proper course. The new administration’s strong focus on immigration and U.S. national security could potentially benefit them long-term.
Located directly south of Mexico, the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are caught in the crosshairs of a dire economic and security crisis.
For many years, Honduras and El Salvador have jostled for the top spot among nations with the highest homicide rates. Violent local and transnational gangs operate with virtual impunity. Drug trafficking runs rampant and has corrupted state institutions that are already fragile.
Guatemala’s 600-mile border with Mexico is a porous haven for drug and human trafficking. High-level corruption within the government, particularly the law enforcement and military, make it virtually impossible to begin addressing these problems.
On the American side, monetary aid to the region has been politicized under the Obama administration. Much like its foreign policy writ large, the administration’s strategy toward Central America has reflected the narrow interests of progressive constituents.
Rather than addressing these countries’ basic security and development challenges, the administration has focused on softer projects like gender issues and climate change.
All the while, security conditions in the region have continued to deteriorate while unlawful migration to the U.S. keeps surging. Mexicans no longer make up the majority of unlawful migrants—these now primarily come from the Northern Triangle countries.
And here again, the Obama administration’s misguided policies have aided the immigration surge.
Consider its response to Honduras’ constitutional crisis in 2009. Instead of supporting the democratic ambitions of a regional partner, the administration declared the lawful deposing of its president to be a “military coup” and responded by suspending critical aid.
Counternarcotic assistance was particularly hit hard, resulting in a further reduction of the country’s already insufficient capacity to combat drug trafficking. Shortly thereafter, a State Department study found that “87 percent of all cocaine smuggling flights departing South America first land in Honduras.”
In addition to America’s porous border and weak immigration laws, these destabilizing factors in Central America play a direct role in incentivizing unlawful migration to the U.S.
As evidenced by various indicators, like the continued flow of unlawful migrants and high homicide rates, the Obama administration’s foreign policy toward Central America has been ineffective.
The doomsday prophecies pushed by the media about the coming Trump administration are baseless. Instead of buying into the hype, the Northern Triangle countries should embrace an administration that is so keenly focused on restoring security to the region.
