Migrant caravan piles pressure on Mexico
Trump threatens to close US-Mexico border if Hondurans not stopped there
As some 3,000 Hondurans made their way through Guatemala, attention turned to Mexico, after US President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to close the US-Mexico border if authorities there fail to stop them — a nearly unthinkable move that would disrupt hundreds of thousands of legal freight, vehicle and pedestrian crossings each day.
With less than three weeks before the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Trump seized on the migrant caravan to make border security a political issue and energise his Republican base.
“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught — and if unable to do so I will call up the US Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump tweeted, adding he blamed Democrats for “weak laws!”
Threats galore
The threat followed another one earlier this week to cut off aid to Central American countries if the migrants weren’t stopped. Trump made a similar vow over another large migrant caravan in April, but didn’t follow through and it largely petered out in Mexico.
On Thursday, Mexico’s foreign ministry said the government was assisting members of the caravan who had already crossed into Mexican territory. It was explaining the options to migrants and helping those who chose to apply for refugee status to navigate the lengthy process.
Mexico had also dispatched additional police to its southern border after the Casa del Migrante shelter on the Guatemalan side of the border reported that hundreds of Hondurans had already arrived there.
Apparently pleased with that response, in the evening ■ Trump retweeted a BuzzFeed journalist’s tweet of a video clip showing the police deployment, adding his own comment: “Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you!”
Mexican federal police and immigration officials also appeared to detain immigration activist Irineo Mujica, who led a caravan of migrants through Mexico last spring.
His organisation Pueblo Sin Fronteras, or People without Borders, said via Twitter that he was arrested Thursday in Ciudad Hidalgo on the MexicoGuatemala border while participating in a peaceful march.
Mexican officials had said the Hondurans would not be allowed to enter as a group and would either have to show a passport and visa — something few have — or apply individually for refugee status, a process that can mean waiting for up to 90 days for approval. They also said migrants caught without papers would be deported.
Marcelo Ebrard, who is set to become foreign relations secretary when President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office Dec. 1, said Trump’s tweets need to be understood in the context of the upcoming US midterm polls. “The electoral process is very near, so he is making a political calculation,” Ebrard said in an interview with Radio Centro.
Trump’s stance, he said, was “what he has always presented,” adding he saw “nothing surprising in it.”
Current Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray was also sanguine and viewed things through the lens of US politics. “Nobody likes them (Trump’s comments). There’s no reason to give them greater transcendence or importance,” Videgaray said from the United Nations where he sought the world body’s help processing asylum requests from the migrants. “What is important to us is the migrants, respect for human rights, their due protection, particularly the most vulnerable.”