As promised, Trump cuts aid to Central America because of immigration

US President Donald Trump's government cut hundreds of millions of dollars on aid to countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras on Monday after Trump criticized the three countries for thousands of their citizens seeking asylum in United States after arriving at the country's border with Mexico.

The measure is likely to face harsh opposition in Congress.

Parliamentarians, including some of Republican colleagues at Trump, are irritated by the president's repeated decisions to disregard budget measures approved by Congress, some of them sanctioned by the president himself.

Parliamentarians opposed to the plan say it is cruel to cut aid to countries suffering from hunger and crime and that the measure could be counterproductive because it will most likely increase the number of immigrants rather than diminish it.

Congressional advisers say the government would reallocate the $ 370 million Central American aid that parliamentarians had approved for fiscal year 2018 and suspend an additional $ 180 million approved by Congress for fiscal year 2017.

The total amount of funding for those years has not yet been used.

The government said in March that it would cut aid to the three countries after Trump voiced his dissatisfaction with his immigration policies.

No money will be made available until the government is satisfied with the reduction in the number of immigrants arriving at the United States border, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus told reporters.