U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) on April 3 sponsored legislation that would curb United States funding to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras based on unaccompanied alien children fleeing from those countries into the United States.
“With the current humanitarian and security crisis overwhelming resources at our southern border, Congress must act to address the cycle of irregular migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” said Rep. Burgess, ranking member on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.
Rep. Burgess introduced the Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance Control Act, H.R. 2049, to decrease American aid to the three countries comprising Central America’s Northern Triangle region based on the number of these minors who during the preceding fiscal year had been placed in U.S. custody because of their immigration status, according to the congressional record.
If enacted, H.R. 2049 specifically would reduce U.S. aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras by $30,000 for each of their unaccompanied alien children placed in U.S. federal custody based on their immigration status.
“It is inhumane for the American government to incentivize human traffickers to bring children on the dangerous trek to our border,” Rep. Burgess said. “It also is wrong to charge American taxpayers both for generous foreign aid to the Northern Triangle region and for the expensive care required for unaccompanied alien children who reach our border from these countries — at the steep expense of more than $1.3 billion each year.”
El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras receive U.S. foreign aid each year as part of the Central American Regional Security Initiative. At the same time, migrant children from these countries receive care through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), according to the congressman’s office.
Over the past five years, almost 50,000 children from these countries have been referred annually to ORR at an average cost of $30,000 per child, totaling an average of more than $1.35 billion a year, the lawmaker said.
“As I witnessed firsthand during my trip to the Northern Triangle countries last summer, the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are ill-equipped to combat the systematic corruption that plagues this region,” said Rep. Burgess, who in August 2018 traveled to Central America seeking solutions to the U.S. immigration crisis at its southern border.
Rep. Burgess visited El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to learn firsthand about the immigration, humanitarian and energy challenges in the region, as well as the widespread corruption.
“Congress must not permit American taxpayer funds to line the pockets of corrupt foreign government officials,” he said last week. “In this case, foreign aid can be a catalyst for change.”
Rep. Burgess has introduced the same-named legislation each Congress since 2014, according to his office. The reintroduced H.R. 2049 has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“This commonsense approach, which would begin to hold government officials of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras accountable for the wellbeing of their people, is the best way forward,” he said.