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We are all familiar with the cliché: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. There is a lot of truth in that saying. We have to go “upstream” and get to the roots of a problem to have lasting impacts.

The roots of the U.S. problem with mass migrations from Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are violence and poverty. President Trump recently declared his intention to suspend foreign assistance to those three countries in reaction to increased family migration to the U.S. This decision cuts almost $700 million in aid designated to fund vital programs in those countries, programs aimed at long-term, in-country solutions to violence and poverty. These programs work: In El Salvador and Honduras, homicide rates have plummeted by up to 78% in neighborhoods where U.S. aid has the resources to operate.

In 2017, Vice President Mike Pence said, “To further stem the flow of illegal immigration and illegal drugs to the United States, President Trump knows, as do all of you, that we must confront these problems at their source. We must meet them — and we must solve them — in Central and South America.” To coin another cliché, with these cuts in foreign aid: We are cutting off our nose to spite our face. The whole purpose of foreign assistance is to sustainably improve the lives of the most vulnerable so that children and their families may safely remain home.

I ask Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to call upon the administration to reverse this decision and reaffirm the need for foreign assistance that addresses the root causes of migration, violence and poverty.

STANLEY NORMAN

World Vision Advocate

Sandpoint