US President Trump went on a twitter spree against the Democrats yesterday over their continued refusal to grant his administration an additional $5 billion for the construction of a border wall on the US Southern Border.
Whereas most concentrated on Mr Trump’s harsh words against the ‘obstructionist Democrats,’ some media outlets also chose to check whether the President’s statement that a new caravan was ready to depart from Honduras was true.
…..Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries – taking advantage of U.S. for years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
The realization and confirmation of this fact came today as an NGO from Honduras admitted they planned to depart with another large group for the US’s southern border, although they were keen to stress that they would allow the migrants to ask for asylum in Mexico as well.
“A new caravan of 15,000 people has already left Honduras for Chiapas. They say they are even bigger and stronger than the last caravan,” Irma Garrido, a member of the migrant advocacy group Reactiva Tijuana Foundation, said.
Caravan of 15K migrants to leave Honduras in mid-January as overcrowded shelters struggle – https://t.co/MoK6rwO2Me #OANN #MigrantCaravan #BorderSecurity pic.twitter.com/jQnh6KXdrA
— One America News (@OANN) December 28, 2018
“We assume that this caravan . . . will pick up more people in El Salvador and Guatemala. But their aim is to arrive in Chiapas and request work there”
Ms Garrido believes that the new, larger caravan will probably be joined by more people in El Salvador and in Guatemala (as has happened with the previous caravans who became the centre of attention of US media just before the Midterm elections), but claimed that the migrants have declared to her they don’t plan on coming straight to the Tijuana-San Diego border this time, as most have seen that resources in Tijuana are already stretched nearly to a breaking point.
Another migrant caravan from Honduras set to leave January 15. With this mass sum of people, why can they not create change and a movement in their country? We need to update our immigration laws on illegal entry! #migrantcaravan #Honduras #ImmigrationReform #immigration pic.twitter.com/SHE04KhYkT
— Nikki B (@EngineerBarbie) December 29, 2018
“They will stay in the south of Mexico in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Their aim is to request work there,” she said.
Meanwhile, new Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged visas and work in Mexico for Central American migrants. During his inauguration speech earlier this month, he pledged public works projects such as planting 2 million trees and construction of his Maya Train, which will link cities in the three Yucatan Peninsula states as well as Tabasco and Chiapas.
They’re like a human battering ram on the USA-“An Even Bigger Caravan Is Reportedly Set To Leave from Honduras Next Month” https://t.co/QHfPGYco8s
— kioman (@kioman) December 29, 2018
Migrants who arrived with the last large caravan in October are still waiting out the asylum-seeking process at overcrowded shelters in Tijuana.
Via Goldwater