More U.S. funds proposed to “decrease irregular immigration”

(ORIGINAL EN ESPAÑOL AQUÍ)

The U.S. Government notified Congress that it plans to include El Salvador in an additional aid package for $252 million, which also includes Guatemala and Honduras, with funds that will help boost their economies amid the pandemic of COVID-19.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced today in a press release that these funds “will promote U.S. national security and further the President’s goal of decreasing illegal immigration to the United States”.

“These additional funds will assist in making these countries more secure and prosperous by enabling private sector-led economic opportunity and provide critical, lifesaving assistance. Leveraging private sector investment to address the second order economic impacts of the pandemic is key to achieve longer term success in addressing the underlying security, governance, and prosperity issues that drive illegal immigration to the United States”, said Pompeo.

The head of US diplomacy claimed that the Trump administration is focused on health, prosperity, democracy and security in the western hemisphere.

In this sense, the United States extended the América Crece initiative at the beginning of the year, approving $258 million in specific foreign cooperation and now it has prioritized essential funds for managing the emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to continuing this important work with our partners in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and helping them build safe and prosperous futures for their citizens in their countries” he concluded.

President Bukele directly asked his US counterpart, in a phone call last April, to donate mechanical respirators for hospitals serving patients with COVID-19.

A first batch of 250 of those devices arrived in the country last May and have already been installed in national hospitals. A new delivery is expected in the coming days, sources from the (Salvadoran) Presidential House said.

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Last May El Faro was reported that four cases of Covid-19 were confirmed among people deported to El Salvador.

In a joint press conference with president Nayib Bukele on Tuesday, May 26, Ambassador Ronald Johnson reiterated U.S. claims that every deportee undergoes a medical evaluation to scan for symptoms of the virus prior to departure to El Salvador. “There’s a very strict protocol in the United States, and when they arrive here in El Salvador, we work very closely with the Salvadoran government to ensure that they are put into a strict protocol here,” he stated, adding that “the coronavirus is very elusive” but that the U.S. government is “committed to continue to do everything we can to make sure that no one returns here that is sick.” 

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