Trump threatens to cut aid to Central American nations over migrant caravan

The caravan, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands, is in southern Mexico, inching toward the distant US border

US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to begin curtailing millions of dollars in American aid to three Central American nations and called a caravan of migrants bound for the United States a national emergency, as he sought to boost his party's chances in November 6 congressional elections.

"Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the US, we will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them," Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts.