News Tip: Foreign Aid Can Help Reduce Migration from Central America, Expert Says

President Donald Trump has said he plans to trim hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
 

Quotes:
“Violence, climate change and lack of economic opportunity are driving migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” says Sarah Bermeo, an associate professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. “To combat these problems the U.S. needs two strategies: A long-term foreign aid strategy to decrease the causes of forced migration and a short-term strategy for coping with the increase in asylum-seekers at the border now.”  

“Foreign aid can be directed to essential regional security initiatives to combat organized crime, as well as to in-country programs that build police capacity to counter gang influence. Food security assistance and aid for agriculture are needed to help residents cope with droughts in Central America’s dry corridor, which have resulted in people fleeing food insecurity.” 

“In the short term, migration from the most violent areas will continue, as people fear for their lives. Given this reality, policies that provide humanitarian assistance on arrival and a legal mechanism to stay temporarily in the U.S. are better for security than current policy, which results in asylum-seekers pooling in unsafe conditions at the border.”

“Continuing to create barriers for asylum-seekers will drive desperate people to use human traffickers to gain entry and disappear into the shadows.” 
 

Bio:
Sarah Bermeo, associate professor of public policy and political science, is the author of “Targeted Development: Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World.” She researches relations between industrialized and developing nations, foreign aid, trade agreements and climate migration.

Archive podcast: Targeted Development: The U.S. and Foreign Aid. Rich countries have a variety of reasons to give money to poorer countries. In this Jan. 11, 2019, episode of Policy 360, Sarah Bermeo discusses what the U.S. foreign aid policy strategy is today, how it has changed over the years, and what that means for peace and security.   
 

For additional comment, contact Sarah Bermeo at
sarah.bermeo@duke.edu