Donald Trump said on Twitter yesterday that the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were unable to do their job and stop people from “coming illegally to the US”, as thousands of refugees flee violence.

The group of migrants is travelling through Mexico but is still far from the US border. Human rights groups have said that stopped aid would make the situation worse.

Trump has not specified what money will be cut and if he has yet made a presidential order to stall funds.

He said on Twitter: “We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them [Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador].”

Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 October 2018

In 2017, Guatemala received over $248m in aid from the US, Honduras received $175m and El Salvador $115m, according to the US Agency for International Development.

Thousands of migrants are travelling by foot towards the US border to flee poverty and insecurity in their home countries.

The ‘caravan’ has moved through Guatemala and is now making its way through Mexico to the US.

In response to the Tweet, Human Rights Watch said the root causes of the migrant crisis must be addressed. “Cutting aid to refugee-producing countries will only make worse the conditions that displace people in the first place.”

Many of the families travelling towards the border are believed to be seeking asylum. Trump said on Sunday that the US would turn away people if they have not applied to asylum in Mexico first.