Senator Marco Rubio has said that aid to Central American countries “help us more than them” in response to Donald Trump’s threat to cut off foreign aid to countries unable to stop undocumented immigrants making their way to the US.

The Republican from Florida tweeted “Our aid to #Honduras & #Guatemala isn’t charity. It helps us more than them. By seizing drugs before they enter U.S. & kill Americans.”

Both men were talking about a caravan of approximately 7,000 refugees and migrants travelling north towards the US-Mexico border having gone through Honduras and Guatemala.

The president had said on Twitter earlier this week that the Central American countries nor Mexico “were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the US."

"We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to” Honduras and Guatemala, the president said.

Mr Rubio, whose own grandfather came close to being deported as an undocumented immigrant from Cuba, said while he understood why the president would want to punish those countries for not adequately address the rampant poverty and gang violence which have plagued them for years and pushed people to seek asylum or enter the US illegally.

However, Mr Rubio noted “our aid to #Honduras & #Guatemala isn’t cash. It’s primarily equipment & training to stop drugs headed to U.S. & to deal with the gangs causing people to leave those countries.”

Mr Rubio also noted it is “border security” because the aid focuses on violence prevention and ultimately helps the US fight the gangs that are terrorising the people who ultimately wind up on our border”.

Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Show all 14 1 /14 Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Immigrant children, many of whom are separated form their parents, are housed in Texas' tent city Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker cries as her mother is searched and detained near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Undocumented migrants ride on the top of a freight train referred to as the beast, or La Bestia Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border A cage inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility in Texas Reuters Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy All new agents must complete a months-long training course at the New Mexico facility before assuming their posts at Border Patrol stations, mostly along the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence A group of young men walk along the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence in the US Man looks through US-Mexico border fence into the US in Tijuana, Mexico Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US-Mexico border fence US Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the US-Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on in La Joya, Texas Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border US Border Patrol Academy US Border Patrol instructor yells at trainees after their initial arrival to the academy Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Memorial service in Guatemala Families attend a memorial service for two boys who were kidnapped and killed in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala. Crime drives emigration from Guatemala to the United States, as families seek refuge from the danger Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Arrests on the border Undocumented immigrants comfort each other after being caught by Border Patrol agents near the US-Mexico border Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Detention holding facility A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the US Border Patrol Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican farm workers Mexican migrant workers harvest organic parsley at Grant Family Farms in Wellington, Colorado Getty Undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border Mexican family in Arizona A Mexican immigrant family sits in the living room of their rented home in Tuscon, Arizona. The family that Arizona's new tough immigrant law had created a climate of fear in the immigrant community. Getty

According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2016, the US gave Honduras nearly $128m, Guatemala $297m, and El Salvador $75m in aid across all federal agencies mostly aimed towards counter-narcotics activities, military training, agricultural subsidies, and violence prevention.

By next year, those sums are projected to fall to $69.4m for Guatemala, $65.8m for Honduras, and $45.7m in the case of El Salvador.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Several international development experts have noted US foreign aid is not perfect but cutting it off to the region could have disastrous effects for children in terms of education and malnutrition, and would allow gangs and government corruption to flourish unchecked.

He also said he had “alerted” US Customs and Border Patrol and the US military.