Immigrant caravan moves steadily north
As many as 4,000 people, most of them Hondurans, are making their way toward Mexico, U.S., en masse. Here’s what’s at stake.
A caravan of migrants, nearly all of them Hondurans, is making its way north through Guatemala toward Mexico and the United States. It is the latest, and certainly the largest, iteration of a phenomenon that has occurred from time to time: big groups of Central Americans joining together to face the challenges of migration, their numbers providing security against the criminals that stalk the route north.
President Donald Trump warned that he would shut down the southwest border of the United States if Mexico did not halt the group. He also reiterated his threat that unless the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador stopped the caravan’s progress, he would suspend foreign aid to them.
Here are answers to some questions about the migrant caravan that has upset Trump this week and inflamed political concerns throughout the region.
What is the migrant caravan?
The migrant caravan was formed late last week in San Pedro Sula, a city in northern Honduras known for high levels of violence. It originally numbered fewer than 200 people — in line with most past caravans. But as word spread, the mobilization quickly grew. By the time the group had crossed the border into Guatemala, its members traveling by foot and vehicle, it had ballooned to more than 1,000.
More migrants have joined this week — by some estimates it now numbers an extraordinary 4,000 people — though it has fractured into smaller groups that were making their way at varying speeds through Guatemala on Thursday.
Most of the caravan’s participants have in mind a new life in the United States, though some say they intend to stop in Mexico. Many say they have been ground down by low wages, unemployment and poor public services in Honduras and are looking for better opportunities elsewhere. Others say they fear for their lives and intend to apply for asylum either in Mexico or the United States.
Why does it matter so much to the president?
Trump made the fight against illegal immigration a central plank in his presidential platform, vowing to obtain tougher immigration legislation and build a border wall. But he has been unable to secure financing to build the wall. And after illegal border crossings declined in 2017 to a more than 40-year low, the numbers began climbing again this year, including record-setting numbers of people traveling in families in September, frustrating the Trump administration.
During his presidential campaign, Trump’s attacks against immigrants were successful in firing up his conservative base. And with midterm elections only weeks away, he has renewed these attacks, warning of criminals pouring over the border to threaten American citizens and suggesting that unauthorized immigrants will cause economic dislocation and job loss.
He has been using those themes at every campaign rally, which have increased significantly in the last few weeks. And many Republican candidates have embraced his anti-immigrant message.
In his caravan-inspired Twitter storm on Thursday morning, the president wrote: “I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S.”
How have the other governments in the region responded?
Trump’s initial salvos in his response to the caravan this week were directed at the Honduran government, but were quickly expanded to include El Salvador and Guatemala. He threatened all three countries with a suspension of foreign aid should they allow their citizens to continue traveling toward the United States with the intention of entering illegally. Central America has been a primary source of unauthorized migration to the United States in recent years.
With the caravan having already crossed into Guatemala, there was little the Honduran government could do to arrest its progress, though the administration of President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras deployed security forces to a main border crossing to try to prevent others from joining the migration.
What will happen next?
Some migrants associated with the caravan began to arrive at Guatemala’s border with Mexico on Wednesday, gathering in the town of Ciudad Tecún Umán.
The Mexican immigration authorities have said that migrants with valid documents and visas will be allowed in, but that those who attempt to enter illegally will be detained and deported. Those seeking asylum can request it, but will have to wait in a detention center for as many as 45 days.