Difference between revisions of "2018 Migrant caravan"

Latest revision as of 02:32, March 28, 2024

The caravan as it moves through Mexico

The 2018 migrant caravan is a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe organized by leftist groups. The cost of organizing food, water, transport, and medical supplies for 10,000 people was estimated at $70 million. 100s of migrant women and children were kidnapped by human traffickers en route, and some people were killed. Described as an invasion,^[1] most of the caravan's members were regular illegal economic migrants, rather than refugees escaping violence.^[2][3][4]

The caravan departed from Honduras several weeks before the 2018 Midterm elections.^[5] Since the elections, more caravans have been formed and have continued marching toward the southern US border. WND reported,

Soros front groups are known to have paid human traffickers and have sponsored the migrant invasion of Europe since 2013.^[12][13] Some migrants even arrived with ATM cards provided by the Soros-funded Mercy Corp organization.^[14] Mercy Corp has been implicated in human trafficking.^[15] Soros attorneys helped the migrants get asylum in the U.S.^[16] The group "People Without Borders," which organized the caravan, was criticized by the caravan's members for not properly emphasizing the risks of such as journey.^[17] In 2019, Antifa activists were caught working with Mexican drug cartels and migrant caravan activists to create an armed conflict on the U.S.–Mexico border.^[18]

Soros, a self-confessed Nazi collaborator that betrayed his own people who ended up in Nazi death camps,^[19] now claims he's a victim of anti-Semitism.^[20] Soros has called for regime change in the United States.^[21]

Genesis

The caravan was organized by a Chicago-based open borders group called "People Without Borders," or Pueblo Sin Fronteras in Spanish.^[22] Vice President Mike Pence stated that the caravan received outside funding.^[23]

In a segment on Fareed Zakaria's CNN broadcast January 29, 2017, Mexico's former foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, states the Mexican government was willing to counter President Donald Trump policy by unleashing drug cartels upon the U.S. border.^[24]

In August 2017 Mexico's Economic Minister Ildefonso Guajardo threatened to flood the U.S. with South American illegal aliens, criminals and gang members as leverage to keep exploiting NAFTA.

Reuters reported, "Mexico could pull back on cooperation in migration and security matters if the United States walks away from talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement."

Guajardo said, "If they do not treat us well commercially, they should not expect us to treat them well by containing the migration that comes from other regions of the world and crosses Mexico.”^[25]

In September 2017 Reuters reported a joint statement from George Soros and MasterCard earmarking up to $500 million for migrants.^[26] In 2018 MasterCard admitted that it handed out prepaid debit cards to migrants traveling to Europe.^[27]

Spring caravan

Honduran migrants road freight trains through Mexico with a destination of San Diego.

In March 2018 Bartolo Fuentes organized the "Holy Week" caravan.

In April, Bartolo Fuentes met up with the Spring "Holy Week" caravan in Mexico. In mid-April, 500 migrants continued northward from Mexico City—the caravan's last official stop—toward Tijuana, in separate groups riding atop freight train cars.^[28] Irineo Mujica, an American from Phoenix and director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras,^[29] led a group of about 200 to the San Ysidro point entry at Tijuana.

In June, Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) told a crowd,

Meanwhile, the UN, as part of its War on sovereignty, agreed to the language of its Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. 192 countries treaty agreed to the blueprint. It is non-legally binding — meaning countries who ratify it are not obliged to implement all the measures. It is scheduled for ratification in December 2018.

Fall caravan

Community organizers associated with several Soros front groups sparked a humanitarian crisis and tragedy in the Fall of 2018, attempting to influence the U.S. 2018 Midterm elections in favor of the Democratic party.

The London Guardian claimed the real driving force behind the caravan was climate change.^[31]

The caravan avoided the direct route to Laredo in red state Texas, and detoured hundreds of miles west toward blue state California. Their arrival coincided with the worst wildfires in history, leaving scores dead and tens of thousands homeless. Tens of thousands of homes and other structures burnt down, creating a housing shortage.

Predictably, liberal activists began advocating and raising money for illegal migrants, while ignoring the plight of their fellow citizens who lost their homes, and putting upward pressure on rents for poor Californians who were lucky enough not to see their homes and apartments go up in flames.

Organizing

See also: Community organizing and Cloward and Piven Strategy

On Saturday October 13, 2018 Bartolo Fuentes left the city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras with 700 people, carrying banners with anti-Honduran government slogans. In the town of Cofradia, Fuentes provided buses to move people to Santa Rosa de Copan. In that city Fuentes was assisted by people to assemble a larger group in the town's sports center. Fuentes restarted the march leading in his vehicle, while the mayor provided buses to carry the people to Agua Caliente. The deception of organizers was apparent, assuring the people that by boarding the buses they could finish the route.

On Sunday October 14, the caravan arrived in Ocotepeque and were housed in the Sports Center, the House of Culture, and the Lions Club. The Human Mobility Pastoral of the Episcopal Conference of Churches ecpressed concern for the safety and protection of people and warned of the dangers children will face on the route, which the organizers ignored.^[32] The same day the U.S. embassy issued a statement warning migrants they are traveling under false promises of entry into the United States made by those seeking to exploit their countrymen.

Trump responds

Protestors burnt an American flag before the U.S. embassy in Honduras in a show of support for the migrant army.

On Monday October 15 Bartolo Fuentes acknowledged in interviews with national and international media that the caravan was organized in the city of El Progreso with members of the Libre Party (Free Party). Fuentes says, "There are organizers in Tegucigalpa and Ceiba. It was about 20 people who coordinated with other people who joined in." Fuentes confirms they will cross into Mexico.

The government of Guatemala alerted the public of the deception of the organizers, and expressed concern about the "conditions in which adolescents and children are traveling." Guatemala warns "it rejects movements organized for illegal purposes that manipulate or distort human rights for private purposes." The organizers however continued to use social media to induce more people to join under false promises and deceptions.

President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter, "If the large caravan of people going to the United States does not stop and return to Honduras, no more money will be given effective right now."

On Tuesday October 16, Guatemala arrested Bartolo Fuentes.

The Human Mobility Pastoral warned that the majority of people mobilized under deception do not meet the requirements for asylum in the US. Trump tweets "anyone who enters the United States illegally will be arrested and detained before being sent back to their country."

On Wednesday October 17, the government of Mexico issued a statement that anyone entering Mexico without proper documentation will be arrested and returned to their country of origin. Several Hondurans returned to their country. The United States embassy published a video asking people to "return to their country. You are bring deceived by false promises on the part of leaders with POLITICAL AND CRIMINAL ends."

Honduran Foreign Minister Maria Delores Aguero stated: "We strongly condemn this irregular mobilization which has been incited under deception, which has subjected our people to suffering, for which we have requested the Public Prosecutor's Office to carry out the corresponding investigations... This has triggered a series of migratory tensions... which have had a negative impact on the public, private, social, and commercial spheres...We call to join in protecting the life, physical integrity, and dignity of the people...so they are not exposed to trafficking, sexual and commercial exploitation, and various violations of their human rights."^[33]

As the caravan reached the Guatemala-Mexican border, an American flag was burnt in front of the U.S. embassy back in Tegucigulpa in support of the caravan.^[34]

Crashing the Mexican border

Migrant caravan clashes with Mexican border police.

On October 18, 2018, a few hundred Mexican police faced off against a crowd of about 2,000. Chaos erupted at the border town of Tecun Uman. Migrants breached the border gate and rushed toward the border bridge into Mexico.

The "humanitarian organizers" placed women and children at the front to protect the crowd, about 85% male, from rubber bullets and tear gas. The heavily financed horde overwhelmed token resistance from Mexican police and advanced north toward the U.S. border. The Pueblo Sin Fronteras organizer, Irineo Mujica was arrested.

No further resistance was met once passed the border. The group claims to be fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, yet the group deployed violence against the Mexican police who were vastly outnumbered.

By October 21, reports estimated the number of economic migrants at between 7,200 and 10,000. On October 22, the Mexican newspaper El Universal estimated the crowd at 14,000.^[35] The group has also been enjoined by ideological comrades from within Mexico. The Associated Press described a “growing army of migrants resumes march toward US.”^[36] The caravan was now over two miles long. Drug use was common and garbage left in the caravan's wake.

After reaching the Mexican town of Tapanatepec some began heeding the warnings of the U.S. and Mexican government and began turning back. On Saturday October 27, 2018 the town was distributing sandwiches and water when a man with a megaphone asked people to wait their turn. He was attacked and beaten. Police rescued the man and took him to a hospital for treatment.

Many Mexicans offered migrants transportation assistance in an effort to rid their regions of the invasion quicker. In some places local police requisitioned drivers to accept migrant riders.

1,895 applied for refugee status in Mexico. 300 were issued temporary identity numbers which would allow them to stay and work in Mexico. Pregnant women, children and the elderly were among those who had joined the program and were now being attended at shelters.

The crowd by Sunday October 28 was estimated at 4,000. Of those that turned back, it remains unclear how many circled back to join the second armed caravan following.

Purblo sin Fronteras which is leading the group hopes to negotiate with the government when they reach Mexico City to arrange transportation to the U.S. border.

MS-13 and others

Kidnappings and child trafficers

Begore entering Mexico, Guatemalan authorities rescued seven unaccompanied minors from human smugglers working inside the caravan. The smugglers were arrested and a broader investigation into criminal activity in the caravan continued.^[40]

Once inside Mecico the Human Rights of the People of Oaxaca organization and members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that about 100 undocumented immigrants - including women and children - were kidnapped by transporters and handed over to organized crime groups, presumably to Los Zetas group. The kidnapping occurred in the state of Puebla.^[41] The leftist organizers of the caravan made no public statement, and liberal mainstream media in United States remained silent.

Second caravan

Migrants, "escaping violence," break down border fence and attack police with rocks, gunshots, and Molotov cocktails.

Around 600 people in the second group broke through border barriers in the Guatemala town of Tecun Uman. Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida said some of the attackers carried guns and firebombs.^[42]

One migrant was killed, although it remains unclear if he died from drowning while trying to cross the river to evade Mexican police or from a rubber bullet by Guatemalan police attempting to quell the disturbance.^[43]

Mexican authorities issued a warning about migrants in Guatemala who were preparing Molotov cocktails and acquiring firearms to use against police officers. Two migrants were arrested, one a minor, after shooting at police. They were arrested carrying a loaded firearm.^[44]

The second group, about 1,000 strong is about 250 miles and 10 days behind the first group.^[45]

Third caravan

On Sunday October 28, 2018 about 300 Salvadorans departed from San Salvador hoping to make their way to the U.S.^[46] As election day approached, video from Instagram showed the crowd to be into the thousands.^[47]

Yuma sector

654 migrants were arrested in the Yuma sector on November 12 & 13, 2018. On November 24, 2018, Border Patrol reported the first major instance of violence directed at them from the caravan, primarily from a 31-year-old Honduran man who had been previously deported – he threw rocks at the agents and a helicopter and set a tree on fire.^[48]

Tijuana

On the night of November 16, 2018, a mob of over 700 migrants clashed without about 300 local citizens. Two days later the migrant horde was estimated at 2,600. The mayor wants the invaders deported. Thus, not only did the city's mayor oppose the migrants, but they received an extremely hostile reaction from the city's residents, who did not want thousands of uninvited migrants enter and disrupt their communities.^{[49][50][51][52][53]} The city's own mayor spoke out against the migrants.^[54][55] Tijuana's mayor declared a humanitarian crisis and criticized the Mexican government's handling of the caravan,^[56] and he stated that his city was spending $30,000 a day on the migrants, seriously hurting the city's finances.^[57]

On November 25, 2018, the Caravan violently tried to break through U.S. border defenses,^[58] and its adult male members – comprising most of the caravan – pushed women and children to the front to garner sympathy from the media, despite the violent acts committed.^[59] Some of the caravan members chose to self-deport because of conditions in Tijuana,^[60] though others showing their disrespect for decade-old U.S. immigration law by continuing to break in illegally.^[61]

It was reported that over 1/3 of the 6,000 migrants in Tijuana were being treated for health issues.^{[62][63][64][65]}

Funding

Feeding a crowd of 7,000 people over a two-month trek covering thousands of miles costs money, believe it or not. Not to mention emergency medical treatment, etc. The group is well financed and funded. Estimates of the cost are as much as $70 million.^[66]

Honduran President Juan Hernández told Vice President Mike Pence that the group is being financed from Venezuela, which can barely feed its own people right now under its despotic socialist regime.

Rebel Media reports someone is funding the cost of Porta Potties along the route.^[67]

Extortion

The migrant caravan tried to intimidate the DHS into paying them $50,000 to turn around,^[68][69][70] something with illustrated the fact they were economic migrants rather than asylum seekers.^[71]

Further reading

• Migrant Caravan Reminds Us That We Need to Use — and Obey — the Constitution, by Steve Byas of The New American

See also

• Border wall
• Biden border crisis

References