(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shared a witty response to Honduran President Xiomara Castro’s threat to shut down U.S. military bases if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to deport illegal aliens back to Honduras.
Cruz said Friday that if Castro decides to expel U.S. troops from Honduras, Trump should immediately cut taxpayer-funded aid, which amounts to several hundred million dollars.
“In 2023 the Biden admin sent $193 million in foreign aid to Honduras. In 2024, Biden sent at least $120 million,” Cruz wrote on X. “What I hear Honduras’s president saying is they don’t want any more American aid.”
He added, “Great! Glad to oblige….”
Cruz’s comments were in response to Castro’s opposition to Trump’s plans to enact the largest “deportation operation” in U.S. history.
We will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. – President Donald Trump⁰
Join our live coverage of today’s #TrumpRally in Erie, PA: https://t.co/eDvjYmdCE4 pic.twitter.com/lvLHQi7ela
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 29, 2023
In a Spanish-language video statement, Castro indicated that if Honduran illegal aliens were sent back, she would consider abruptly closing the military bases, falsely claiming they have been maintained in her country for free for decades.
“We would have to consider a change in our foreign policy and cooperation with the U.S., particularly in the military field, in which, without paying a single dime for decades, maintains military bases in our territory,” Castro claimed, conveniently ignoring the millions of dollars in U.S. aid given to her country.
“In this case, they would lose all reasons to exist in Honduras,” she added.
Castro, a leftist politician who came to power in 2022, is married to former President Manuel Zelaya, who served from 2006 until he was ousted in a coup d’état in 2009 over accusations of constitutional violations.
According to Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina, Castro has the authority to remove a long-standing agreement with the U.S. that allowed for the construction of the Soto Cano Air Base, the U.S.’s largest military installation in Central America, according to The New York Times.
Castro’s threats shocked critics, given that her poverty-stricken country relies heavily on the U.S. as its biggest trading partner.
Moreover, U.S. taxpayers, through the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development, have provided Honduras with an astounding $785.05 million in aid between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2023.
The Biden-Harris administration has also mobilized over $5.2 billion in private sector commitments to the region as part of Vice President Kamala Harris’s infamous plan to address the “root causes” of mass migration. The Department of State claims that Honduras has already received over $545 million of those commitments.
Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, would likely halt aid to countries that fail to cooperate with his immigration policies, as he did in 2019.
“I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras and to El Salvador. No money goes there anymore,” Trump said in March 2019.
Aid was resumed in October 2019, after the Central American countries increased efforts to prevent their citizens from seeking to enter the U.S. illegally.
