MEXICAN POLICE MOVE TO BLOCK MIGRANT CARAVAN
President Trump threatens to close U.S.Mexico border to stop 3,000 Hondurans from entering the U.S., using the caravan to make border security a political issue.
As approximately 3,000 Hondurans made their way through Guatemala, attention turned to Mexico, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to close the U.S.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 elections, Trump seized on the migrant caravan to make border security a political issue and energize 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 U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump tweeted, adding that he blamed Democrats for what he called “weak laws!”
The threat followed another one 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. It largely petered out in Mexico.
On Thursday, Mexico 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 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 officials said the Hondurans would not be allowed to enter as a group and would have to show a passport and visa — something few have — or apply individually for refugee status, a process that can mean waiting 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 Presidentelect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office Dec. 1, said Trump’s tweets need to be understood in the context of the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.
“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 that he saw “nothing surprising in it.”