IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 17 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President 
should redirect and target foreign assistance provided to El Salvador, 
Guatemala, and Honduras in a manner that addresses the driving causes 
of illegal immigration into the United States from such countries, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 5, 2021 
Mr. BURGESS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the President should redirect and target foreign assist-
ance provided to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras 
in a manner that addresses the driving causes of illegal 
immigration into the United States from such countries, 
and for other purposes. 
Whereas gang violence, poverty, and corruption are the main 
drivers of illegal immigration from El Salvador, Guate-
mala, and Honduras to the United States; 
Whereas in fiscal year 2018, 34 percent of all southwest bor-
der apprehensions were migrants from El Salvador, Gua-
temala, or Honduras, of which 90 percent are unaccom-
panied alien children or family units; 
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•HRES 17 IH 
Whereas roughly half of Central America’s population lives in 
poverty, including 33 percent of Salvadorans, 59 percent 
of Guatemalans, and 66 percent of Hondurans; 
Whereas millions of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondur-
ans face hunger at some point each year; 
Whereas in particular, the indigenous people of Mayan de-
scent in Guatemala are the most malnourished population 
in the world with children averaging 6 inches shorter 
than the global average height for their ages, as reported 
by the World Health Organization; 
Whereas transnational criminal organizations use Central 
American countries to traffic approximately 90 percent of 
the cocaine bound for the United States; 
Whereas gang-related violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, 
and Honduras contributes to the highest homicide rates 
in the world; 
Whereas Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans are 
forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘‘protec-
tion taxes’’ by gangs and transnational criminal organiza-
tions; 
Whereas 
the 
United 
States 
provided 
more 
than 
$2,600,000,000 in foreign assistance to Central American 
countries between fiscal years 2015 and 2018, and Con-
gress has proposed to provide $595,000,000 in such as-
sistance during fiscal year 2019; 
Whereas there exists the potential for foreign assistance from 
the United States to be misused by central government 
officials in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras in 
order to reduce the success of anti-corruption efforts; and 
Whereas systemic corruption in El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
Honduras undermines efforts to address the driving 
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•HRES 17 IH 
causes of illegal immigration into the United States from 
such countries: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the President should redirect foreign as-
sistance provided to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Hon-
duras away from the central governments of such coun-
tries and instead target such assistance in a manner that 
addresses the driving causes of illegal immigration into the 
United States from such countries, by supporting local 
and regional governmental entities as well as entities in 
the private sector and civil society, especially non-profit, 
faith-based, or non-governmental organizations and edu-
cational institutions, that are addressing such causes. 
Æ 
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