THE MARCH OF MISERY
Migrants defy Trump in 2,000km walk to cross into US
STRETCHING as far as the eye can see, thousands of migrants march through Mexico in a mass bid to get to the US border.
The 7,000-strong group have already walked hundreds of miles through Central America despite warnings by the White House to turn back.
Yesterday Donald Trump declared a state of ‘emergency’ as they continued their 2,200km trek to the US border in Texas. In a flurry of tweets, he threatened to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, accusing them of allowing the caravan to cross borders and travel ‘illegally to the US’.
‘We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing the massive foreign aid routinely given to them,’ he said.
He urged voters to blame the Democrats for stopping him from changing ‘pathetic immigration laws’, adding: ‘Remember the mid-terms.’
Despite warnings from Washington, the group has crossed areas ravaged by gang crime, waded through rivers and scrambled over fences in their trek.
A small group left the crimeridden city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras on October 13 but numbers have swelled as word has spread about the march on social media. Among them are scores of children and the elderly. On Sunday, they reached Tapachula, in south-west Mexico – 1,900 kilometres from the US border in Brownsville, Texas and a journey of more than a month on foot. ‘We have sunburn. We have blisters. But we got here. Our strength is greater than Trump’s threats,’ said migrant Britany Hernández.
However, the US President’s tough words were slightly undermined by a spelling mistake, as he wrote ‘emergy’ instead of ‘emergency’ in yesterday’s tweet. ‘I have alerted border patrol and military that this is a national emergy (sic). Must change laws!’ he wrote.
Mr Trump also suggested the group could pose a threat to US security, saying ‘criminals and unknown middle easterners are mixed in’ with the group.