The words of Joe Biden are incentivizing thousands of Hondurans to organize caravans and move through Central America en route to the United States. The governments of Guatemala and Mexico are scrambling to try to put a halt to their journey. The migrants feel emboldened by the election of Joe Biden and are now coming to demand he honor his commitment to open borders.
Think about that for a minute – thousands of Guatemalan migrants are demanding that they be allowed to crash the U.S.-Mexico border and be welcomed into the United States. Joe Biden has set an aggressive agenda for his first 100 days in office and some of it has to do with immigration policy. As Jazz wrote about earlier today, Biden promises to end deportations and to give complete amnesty to over 11 million illegal immigrants without any border security measures or restrictions put into place to balance out blanket amnesty. His proposals are so far-left that Susan Rice has already stepped up and said, wait a minute, there is no way the incoming Biden administration can dramatically change the current immigration policies in its first 100 days. Sleepy Joe promised to end the Remain in Mexico policy, a very successful joint venture between the United States and Mexico to handle asylum seekers as they wait for processing. And, Biden promised to expand granting asylum to migrants. Reality hit after the election and Susan Rice was sent out to tamp down expectations of immediate changes. In other words, Joe’s full of malarkey.
Unfortunately, Hondoruans desperate to flee the country and unable to provide for their citizens after two devastating hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic believed Joe Biden and began organizing caravans for a trip to the U.S. They took him at his word and now are looking to collect on his promises. The first migrant caravan of the year is underway. By Friday, thousands of Hondurans, between 7,000 and 8,000, many families with children, had moved into Guatemala. A group broke away from the main group and managed to escape Guatemalan authorities who detained the migrants. On Saturday immigration officials escalated efforts to stop the caravan.
Videos seen by Reuters showed Guatemalan security forces clashing with a group of hundreds of migrants who managed to break through a police blockade at the village of Vado Hondo, near Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala.
“A small group got through and the rest were detained. The people who got past have been located,” said Alejandra Mena, a spokeswoman for Guatemala’s immigration agency.
Between Friday and Saturday, Guatemala had sent back almost 1,000 migrants entering from Honduras, the government said, as the caravan moved towards Mexico.
The migrants who manage to escape the efforts made by Guatemalan immigration authorities and move into Mexico will find additional pressure from Mexican authorities to turn back. The migration policy between Mexico and the United States is still in effect. The spread of the coronavirus is noted as a major concern.
On Saturday evening, the Mexican foreign ministry pressed local authorities to halt the caravan’s progress, pointing to the need to contain the spread of COVID-19.
In a statement, the ministry praised the Guatemalan government for acting in a “firm and responsible” manner toward migrants that had “violated (Guatemala’s) sovereignty” and urged Honduras to prevent further movements of people.
Mexico, it said, was committed to orderly and regulated migration and would oppose any form of unauthorized entry.
The caravan continues to grow, even with the coordinated efforts between Central American countries and the United States. Security forces have been increased in Guatemala and Mexico. Migrants know it is a potentially dangerous decision to make the journey.
“We have nothing to feed to our children, and thousands of us were left sleeping on the streets,” said Maria Jesus Paz, a mother of four children who said she lost her home in the hurricanes. “This is why we make this decision, even though we know that the journey could cost us our lives,” she added.
The caravan is being fed hope by a migrants rights group who helped organize their efforts. Pueblo Sin Fronteras speaks on behalf of the migrants.
“We recognize the importance of the incoming Government of the United States having shown a strong commitment to migrants and asylum seekers, which presents an opportunity for the governments of Mexico and Central America to develop policies and a migration management that respect and promote the human rights of the population in mobility,” the statement said. ” We will advocate that the Biden government honors its commitments.”
“A new United States Government is an opportunity to work with the Mexican Government to develop a cooperation plan with Central America to address the causes of migration, together with civil society organizations, as well as an opportunity to increase regional cooperation regarding the persons in need of protection, and to dismantle illegal and inhuman programs such as Remain in Mexico, the United States’ Asylum Cooperation Agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as the Title 42 expulsions by the United States authorities,” it said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) order that allows the U.S. to quickly remove migrants on public health grounds.
Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan rightly points a finger at Biden’s rhetoric.
“We’re looking at two groups that are well over five thousand. And one of those groups has already gotten through the Guatemala border. And they’re on their way to El Rancho, which is about the located centrally in Guatemala,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s already started, just as we promised and anticipated it would with this rhetoric from the new administration on the border.”
The efforts of the Guatemalan government and the Mexican government to continue to work with U.S. immigration officials prove the success the Trump administration has achieved with Central American countries to enforce border security. When the southern border is overwhelmed by migrants seeking asylum, as they have been trained to say when they are detained, it is bad for both the U.S. and Mexico. The Remain in Mexico policy allows migrants a place to stay until the asylum process can catch up with them and they get their day before an American judge.
The open-borders crowd, of which Joe Biden is now a participant, chooses to ignore the sovereignty of America’s borders in favor of future Democrat voters. Once Biden grants blanket amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, besides Dreamers, Democrats will expect their votes in future elections. And the caravans will continue to come.