MEXICO CITY (AP) - A busy shelter for migrants in southern Mexico has been left without a doctor. A program to provide mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth fleeing Venezuela was disbanded. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, so-called "Safe Mobility Offices" where migrants can apply to enter the U.S. legally have shuttered.
Trump’s foreign aid freeze guts grassroots groups helping migrants in Latin America
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A busy shelter for migrants in southern Mexico has been left without a doctor. A program to provide mental health support for LGBTQ+ youth fleeing Venezuela was disbanded. In Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, so-called "Safe Mobility Offices" where migrants can apply to enter the U.S. legally have shuttered.
Barely a week into Donald Trump's new administration, his order to halt U.S. foreign assistance is having a profound effect on an issue that propelled him to the White House: migration.
Across Latin America, grassroots organizations that assist migrants have been gutted, the already perilous trek northward has become more confusing and the future of programs to root out the violence, poverty and human rights abuses that has driven historic levels of migration in recent years are hanging by a thread.
Trump, within hours of taking office Jan. 20, ordered a sweeping 90-day freeze on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department. The decision immediately halted thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide, forcing U.S. aid organizations and partners in the field to slash hundreds of aid workers.