Former congressman and current Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has come up with an unexpected solution to the migration problem: the US must pour taxpayer money into countries where migrants originate from — predominantly the "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras — to make their lives cozy enough to dissuade them from going to the United States.
"We can try to address these problems at the US-Mexico border with walls or open arms, or we can address them in the countries of origin before they ever become a problem, and that's what I want to do", O'Rourke said in an interview with CNN set to air Saturday.
"What we need is someone who will… invest in the smart decisions and policies like investing in Central America to stop the outflow before it even begins", he said.
O'Rourke's proposed policy of investment is a 180-degree turn from US President Donald Trump's "America First" policy, which aims to bring money, big companies and jobs back to the US.
In March 2018, the first caravan of about 700 migrants, predominantly Hondurans, set off from Mexico's southern border, quickly growing to 1,200 people. Throughout the year, numerous similar caravans followed, with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala determined to be the travellers' main countries of origin. The Trump administration has repeatedly called on the three countries to curb the migration influx, to no avail.