Do the President’s policies in Central America spur migration?

Nicholas Kristof has an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times that looks at an aid program that kept a young Guatemalan from migrating to the United States and considers the impacts of President Trump’s policies on migration from Central America.  Here is a part of the commentary that I thought most compelling:

“Then there’s Trump’s cutoff of financial assistance in March. This reversed an Obama administration effort that enjoyed some success in using aid to improve conditions in Central America and reduce migration. El Salvador is the best example: Aid helped improve governance and reduce gang violence, and the number of its migrants to the U.S. fell by 56 percent over the last two full years.

In contrast, Guatemala is becoming more corrupt and messy, yet the Trump White House is ignoring the deteriorating conditions. Pushing for credible elections and effective, clean governance would do more to reduce emigration than a wall, and would be far cheaper, but Trump doesn’t think like that.

That is a broader problem with Trump. He inclines toward the dramatic, visual and simplistic — a modern version of Persian King Xerxes lashing the sea for damaging his bridge — rather than grasp the difficult, complicated and imperfect policy tools that don’t quite `solve’ problems but do mitigate them.”

The wall and related enforcement measures have not been sufficient to quell migration flows.

KJ