The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump’s recent pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández fits into his broader Latin America strategy in a way that is consistent, deliberate, and rooted in three themes that guide his approach to the entire region: illegal immigration control, anti-drug enforcement, and opposition to leftist and authoritarian governments aligned with Cuba, Venezuela, and increasingly China.
President Trump has treated illegal immigration as the primary national-security challenge coming from Latin America. His policies include externalizing asylum processing so migrants apply outside the United States, pressing governments to accept more deportees, and using tariffs, trade negotiations, and visa restrictions as leverage.
The asylum agreement with Honduras, which allows the United States to send some non-Honduran asylum seekers there for processing, follows the same model he applied to Guatemala and El Salvador during his first term. Building a regional system that stops migrant flows before they reach the U.S. border will sharply reduce the number of illegal aliens Border Patrol must apprehend and lower the overall number entering the country.
Mexico occupies the central position in countering both illegal immigration and narcotrafficking. Trump has used tariffs, threats of economic penalties, and the threat of direct military action, alongside ongoing negotiations with Mexican officials, to compel action against migrant caravans, smuggling routes, and cartel-linked trafficking operations.
Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala have also faced sharper pressure to restrict northbound migration, with Trump tying aid, trade terms, and access to U.S. labor programs to compliance on immigration enforcement.
Anti-narcotrafficking strategy is the second major pillar of Trump’s Latin America policy. He treats narcotics trafficking as both a criminal threat and a political one, focusing on governments that have allowed traffickers to operate. Mexico, which could be described as a narcostate, is the main target, where Trump has designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and has considered direct U.S. military action against the cartels on Mexican soil.
In Colombia, the administration has pressed for expanded aerial eradication and tighter cooperation after record increases in cocaine production. In Ecuador, Trump has backed the government’s expanded anti-gang operations following cartel-driven violence.
Trump has also praised El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for his anti-gang campaign and highlighted the mass arrests of MS-13 and Barrio 18 members, along with the construction of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a high-security facility built to detain tens of thousands of gang members. Bukele’s crackdown produced a dramatic reduction in homicides and gang-related violence, and Trump cites these results as evidence that uncompromising security measures can curb transnational criminal organizations that threaten U.S. interests.
The final major pillar of President Trump’s Latin America policy is anti-socialism, and Venezuela is at the center of this confrontation. Trump views Nicolás Maduro as an authoritarian socialist leader whose government is intertwined with narcotrafficking networks and aligned with Cuba and China.
Maduro continued the socialist economic system created by Hugo Chávez, which drove Venezuela from one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries to one of its poorest and produced one of the largest migration crises in the world. Trump has responded by expanding military operations targeting drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and has not ruled out additional military or covert action. His Venezuela policy also shapes his stance toward Nicaragua, where he has imposed sanctions and denounced Daniel Ortega’s consolidation of power.
China’s regional expansion feeds into President Trump’s anti-socialist agenda in Latin America. Beijing is deepening its influence by partnering with left-leaning or authoritarian governments. Trump’s administration has used visa restrictions, investment reviews, and public warnings to counter Chinese involvement in Chile’s mining sector, Venezuela’s surveillance systems, Nicaragua’s digital infrastructure, and Argentina’s space-tracking facilities.
Honduras became more significant after it severed ties with Taiwan in 2023 and recognized Beijing, prompting Washington to apply migration pressure, tariffs, and political signaling to encourage a return to closer alignment with the United States. Similar concerns have guided Trump’s demands that Panama limit Chinese access to critical infrastructure linked to the Panama Canal.
Trump’s Latin America policy is consistent across the region, addressing three main concerns: illegal immigration, narcotrafficking, and the spread of socialist governments aligned with Cuba, Venezuela, and China. At the same time, President Trump supports the few right-leaning Latin American leaders and candidates who align with U.S. interests, including Nayib Bukele (El Salvador), Javier Milei (Argentina), Juan Orlando Hernández (Honduras), and Nasry “Tito” Asfura (Honduras).
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