Trump Slams Mexico for 'Doing Nothing' Over Latest Caravan Crisis
Yet another migrant caravan is making its way north from Central America, setting the stage for a repeat clash at the U.S. border. As before, the government of Mexico is largely shrugging it off — but President Trump just blasted that country for failing to do its part.
“Mexico is doing NOTHING to stop the Caravan which is now fully formed and heading to the United States,” Trump posted to Twitter on Saturday.
Mexico is doing NOTHING to stop the Caravan which is now fully formed and heading to the United States. We stopped the last two – many are still in Mexico but can’t get through our Wall, but it takes a lot of Border Agents if there is no Wall. Not easy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2019
He was referring to hundreds of migrants who recently set out from Honduras, who according to Reuters are following nearly 1,000 others who are about a day ahead of them.
That mass of people almost certainly has their sights set on entering the U.S., which means first crossing into Guatemala and then into Mexico.
“We stopped the last two – many are still in Mexico but can’t get through our (Border Patrol) Wall, but it takes a lot of Border Agents if there is no Wall. Not easy!” Trump blasted.
His frustration with Mexico isn’t unfounded. As the widely-respected Reuters news wire explained, Mexican officials have fallen far short of their promises to ramp up security along the country’s own southern border.
A program that involved wrist bands with bar-codes to track who was authorized to enter Mexico was lauded by the government, but quickly ignored.
“The road today was open,” one of the Honduran migrants told Reuters. “They didn’t give us bracelets or anything, they just let us pass through Mexico migration.”
The news agency confirmed that Mexico seemed to have stopped tracking who was entering the country and was essentially just waving people through.
“A migration official at the entry point … said that at least 1,000 people crossed from Guatemala into Mexico before dawn, without putting on wrist bands,” Reuters reported.
“Asked why migrants did not receive wrist bands, David Leon, the director of civil protection, said authorities faced a caravan of hundreds of people early in the morning and let them pass rather than risk a confrontation,” that outlet continued.
Indeed, there seem to be almost no checks of who is coming with the caravan and whether or not they’re authorized.
“Honduran migrant Santos Pineda said he and his family entered Mexico easily, and without having to provide documents or wear any wrist bands. The family’s plan was to press on to the United States,” stated Reuters.
To the chagrin of the left, Trump’s ire seems to be justified. If Mexican border officials are refusing to even ask for documents and have quickly stopped using their wrist-band system, what prevents criminals or even more dangerous people from other regions of the world from exploiting the caravan?
The seemingly endless flow of migrants from Central America into Mexico and then the United States is not just one country’s problem. It affects almost all of North America, yet continues to be largely ignored by authorities south of the border.
This is why people are fed up, and why Trump continues to find support with his base and even among Hispanic-Americans. Unless our supposed friends in Latin America step up, the president has a very strong point.
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