By Arshad Mohammed, Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - People inside and outside the Trump administration scrambled on Monday to figure out what aid it plans to cut from three Central American nations and how that is a good idea given that much of the money aims to curb migration.
The State Department said on Saturday it would carry out President Donald Trump's repeated threats to end U.S. foreign assistance programs with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Without providing evidence, Trump said on Friday the countries had "set up" caravans of migrants in order to export them to the United States. A surge of asylum seekers from the three countries, known collectively as the Northern Triangle, has sought to enter the United States in recent days.
Congressional aides and U.S. officials said they were trying to establish what money would be eliminated, and even some of Trump's fellow Republicans questioned the wisdom of curbing the aid, much of which aims to reduce violence, gang activity and the illicit drug trade - all factors that send migrants north.
"If we cut all this funding, and a lot of it, quite honestly, is seriously law enforcement that we're doing down there ... I think it's going to make things tragically worse, not better," said Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
The State Department did not elaborate beyond its weekend statement that it was "carrying out the President's direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle" and would engage Congress. The U.S. fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one congressional aide said it was his understanding the administration planned to reprogram – or dedicate to other purposes – about $450 million in fiscal-year 2018 funds.
In addition, according to the aide, the department planned to review fiscal-year 2017 and 2018 funds that have been obligated, but not spent, and redirect those to other purposes.
The aide and others said, however, that Congress had yet to receive any formal notices from the State Department about exactly which funds are involved, what they were originally for or where the department wants to reprogram them.
Asked if the department knew what programs would be cut, a second congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "If they do, they haven't told us yet. My sense is they are trying to figure that out."
'TOTALLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE'
A former U.S. official in contact with those still in the government said emails were flying around the State Department among officials trying to figure out what was going on.