7. Anchor Tom:
Next to the crisis at the border.
President trump now cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to three Central
American countries.
As he returns to Washington from Mar-a-Lago tonight, he said he would close the border with Mexico as
soon as this week, and he's traveling there on Friday.
But will he follow through on that threat, even if it hurts American businesses as well?
ABC White House corresponding Tara Palmeri reporting from White Palm Beach tonight.
Reporter Tara Palmeri:
President trump not backing down from his threat to close the southern border, cutting off hundreds of
millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Many migrants fleeing violence, corruption, and economic hardship in the three central American
countries, now flooding the border.
Donald Trump:
We were paying them tremendous amounts of money and we're not paying them anymore because
they haven't done a thing for us.
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8. Reporter:
For years, the U.S. has worked with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address the root causes
fueling the migration crisis.
Just this week, homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announcing renewed cooperation effort
with those countries. But now the administration saying they need to do more.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney:
If not, it makes very little sense for us to continue to send them aid.
Reporter:
Congressional Democrats warn the president's approach is entirely counterproductive.
Even the president's own border chief telling Tom last year, it's essential to support the Central
American governments.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Comr. Kevin McAleenan:
How do we engage with those governments to support prosperity, governance, and security so that
people don't feel compelled to leave their homes.
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9. Reporter:
According to U.S. Customs and border protection, 76,000 migrants were stopped at the border in
February. March is on track to surpass those figures with an estimated 95,000 migrants.
The president citing the growing number of illegal border crossings as the reason to shut down the
border with Mexico.
Donald Trump:
We’ll keep it closed for a long time. I'm not playing games.
Reporter:
But closing down ports could hurt the U.S. Economy.
An average of $1.7 billion in goods cross the border every day.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney:
It shouldn't surprise anybody that we're turning to what some folks might think extreme measures.
We're supposed to fix this by changing the laws.
Democrats won't do that so we're looking at cutting off aid and closing the borders.
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10. Anchor:
Tara Palmeri reporting from White Palm Beach, Tara congressional Democrats already vowing to fight
the president's decision to cut humanitarian aid?
Reporter:
Tom, Democrats say they'll do everything in their power to push back .
But two white house officials tell me they believe they're on solid ground.
They say they don't need congressional approval to withhold funds, Tom?
Anchor:
The White House are confident they can move further alright.
Tara, thank you.
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