Donald Trump is now on his third day of tweet-storming about at a caravan of Hondurans heading through Mexico and then onto the U.S. border. This kind of caravan is nothing new, but the safe bet is that Trump learned about it watching “Fox & Friends” this past Sunday. So what is this caravan? The answer depends on whether you read reliable news or watch Fox.
“It has become a regular occurrence, particularly around the Easter holiday: scores or even hundreds of Central American migrants making their way north by foot and vehicle from southern Mexico. They include everyone from infants to the elderly, fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands.”
On the flip side here is what Fox News’ Tucker Carlson says:
“A caravan of more than 1,000 border jumpers is traveling across Mexico toward our southern border. We don’t know anything about them, we don’t know whether they’re gang members. The Left’s attitude: Shut up, America, and stop complaining.”
But the person complaining the loudest is the Alarmist in Chief.
The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our “Weak Laws” Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2018
Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large “Caravans” of people enter their country. They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2018
According to Reuters, Trump is dead wrong about Mexican law: “Under Mexican law, Central Americans who enter Mexico legally are generally allowed to move freely through the country, even if their goal is to cross illegally into the United States.”
And as NBC News reports:
“If the caravan attempts to cross the border in a group, participants will be stopped or apprehended, according to Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Law. The majority of the migrants are expected to seek asylum if they cross into the United States. (Otherwise, they would likely be deported immediately — sometimes on the same day — under existing law.)
Asylum seekers are screened with a “credible fear interview” within weeks of their arrival, Gilman said. If they do not pass, they are deported immediately.”
What we found on our visit to the border was primarily women and children so scared for their own lives and for their children that many of them walk from Central America to Texas. For more on their struggle, please check out our recent report “Exodus to America.”
Buzzfeed has had a correspondent traveling with the caravan:
It’s day nine of the caravan. People are lining up for supplies as they wait to hear how the group will move forward today. pic.twitter.com/uf6b7V99JF
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) April 2, 2018
He reported last night that the Mexican government may try to disband the group.
Mexican immigration authorities said they plan on disbanding the Central American caravan by Wednesday in Oaxaca. The most vulnerable will get humanitarian visas.
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) April 3, 2018
This is a developing story. We will continue to update.