‘Caravan’ of thousands heading for US from Central America

Some 1 500 Central Americans are on a crusade across Mexico in the hopes of being granted asylum at the US border.

The “caravan” of “refugees” will soon pose an enormous challenge to the Trump administration, since it will be reminding Trump voters that the wall on which they elected him 14 months ago, has still not been put up.

“We want to become one, supporting us shoulder to shoulder and show that together we can break down borders,” one the caravan’s organisers told BuzzFeed News.

The migrants left six days ago, marching under the slogan Migrantes en la lucha [Migrants in the battle].

The “caravan” came together a month ago with the help of Pueblo Sin Fronteras [People Without Borders]. The Central American migrants, mostly Hondurans and Guatemalans, flee their countries because of insecurity and because they are threatened by gang members, and also because of the economic and political situation in the region, they say.

Despite a majority of the Hondurans being in Mexico illegally, the “caravan” has not yet been stopped. But Mexicans along the way have been helping the migrants in order to get rid of them.

The open-border activists are planning to take a train in order to expedite the journey north, and several towns have provided buses to help the migrants move along.

If their trip to the US is successful, it would spur thousands more to make the journey to get into America.

Meanwhile, applicants for US visas, will have to present their social media identities if they seek entry into the United States, according to a state department filing on Friday. But not one of the “caravan” migrants have applied for visas.

The proposal, if approved, would require most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants to list all social media identities they have used in the past five years, affecting some 14.7 million people annually.

The “extreme vetting” of foreigners entering the United states “to prevent terrorism” would not apply for example to the “caravan” trek as social media vetting will mainly target immigrants and travelers from Muslim-majority countries for visa denials.

In addition to requiring the five years of social media history, the application will also ask for previous telephone numbers, email addresses, prior immigration violations and any family history of involvement in terrorist activities, according to the notice.

The United States shares a nearly 3 200-kilometre border with Mexico.

My first dispatch while on the trail with hundreds of Central Americans who have boldly crossed immigration check points, military bases, & police in a desperate, sometimes chaotic march toward the US https://t.co/cf2rnzbp3n

— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) March 30, 2018