Republicans on the House Oversight and Banking Committees are blasting President Biden's plan to move forward with cash payments to the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in an effort to stop illegal immigration to the United States.
"In the midst of a border crisis propelled by the Biden Administration reversing successful deterrent policies, it is worrisome that the Administration’s solution isn’t to reinstate those policies or replace them with workable solutions, but instead to funnel more money to pay countries to dissuade their citizens to break U.S. laws, particularly countries with corruption concerns," Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer and Budget Committee Ranking Member Jason Smith wrote in a letter to Acting OMB Director Shalanda Young Monday.
"The 'root causes' of the current border crisis are the Biden Administration’s reckless rhetoric and policies which quickly and haphazardly rolled back successful deterrent policies implemented by President Trump. The strategy of sending cash payments to foreign countries to stem the tide of illegal immigration caused by Biden Administration policies is naïve and misguided," they continued. "Moreover, the countries identified as potential recipients include some of the most corrupt countries in the world, with El Salvador and Guatemala ranking in the top ten. This raises further concerns that such aid would simply be wasted on corrupt politicians and organizations serving their own interests, and not those of the interests of the American people."
In March, a former Honduran Congressman and a police officer were sentenced for a series of crimes, including for the distribution of cocaine and weapons into the United States. Last year the former Honduran National Police Chief, along with the former president of Honduras, was convicted on similar charges.
"Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, the former chief of the Honduran National Police, allegedly abused his positions in Honduran law enforcement to flout the law and play a key role in a violent international drug trafficking conspiracy,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at the time. “As alleged, on behalf of convicted former Honduran congressman Tony Hernandez and his brother the president, Bonilla Valladares oversaw the transshipment of multi-ton loads of cocaine bound for the United States, used machineguns and other weaponry to accomplish that, and participated in extreme violence, including the murder of a rival trafficker, to further the conspiracy. Now Bonilla Valladares has been marked as an outlaw and charged with crimes that could send him to a U.S. prison for life.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been tapped by President Biden to lead the response to the ongoing border crisis, plans to visit Guatemala in the coming weeks. She still has no plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.