The Real Story of Immigrant Caravans
Run For Your Life
In the months before the 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections, President Donald Trump and sympathetic media organizations began alerting the public about an incoming “migrant caravan” of thousands. Despite the way that sounds, there actually was a caravan with real endangered and impoverished people in it, as real as the threats against them. There have been caravans of varying size and constitution since, and declining conditions in Central and South America suggest there will be more.
Origins
The first widely reported caravan of the Trump era departed from Tapachula, Mexico in March of 2018, and Hondurans composed a large percentage of the group as they do migrants to the United States in general. Since a 2009 coup d’état resulting in the removal and exile of former president Manuel Zelaya, Honduras has undergone a fraught period of extreme poverty due to an aggressively pro-corporate administration.
As the nation’s resources are stripped for profit, violence has become rampant in much of Honduras. From 2013 to 2016, the city of San Pedro Sula was considered the murder capital of the world, averaging 3 homicides per day with a population of roughly 700,000. The second largest city in the country, in October of 2018 it acted as a meeting place where hundreds of locals joined with migrants from Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala before departing for the U.S.
These countries too, are producing large numbers of refugees due to oppressive governments and deadly conflicts inside their borders. In a three. month span in Nicaragua, 300 citizens were killed and thousands exiled in aggressive actions targeting protesters of President Daniel Ortega. Over 100,000 Nicaraguan families have fled and are living in Costa Rica, alone.
The Trip
Under no circumstances will a walking journey of a thousand miles or more be easy, or safe, but the general lack of resources Central and South American migrants suffer from creates a unique and perilous situation. While there is zero evidence of leprosy being carried by the caravans, as a Fox News contributor suggested, there are issues with treating and containing disease.
Respiratory illnesses like bronchitis are common due to close proximity to others, diminished nutrition, and sleeping outdoors. Similarly, pests like lice are pervasive and pose a bigger problem in any indoor shelters the migrants may be lucky enough to use. The Mexican Red Cross and religious organizations provide considerable help with injuries and illness, but mostly in large centers like Mexico City.
Food, water, and necessities like diapers are scarce, if only because everything the migrants possess is something they must carry. Shoes are a particularly difficult resource to manage. Many of the travelers at least begin their trip wearing sandals or similarly thin and less-than-protective footwear, and health workers along the way treat a great many foot injuries. As migrants near the U.S. border and specifically, reach Tijuana, there are an increasing number of shelters and material assistance being made available by UNICEF and other humanitarian charity groups.
Reception
Clearly, President Donald Trump and a significant contingent of Americans see these migrants as a threat, or at least a grave inconvenience. In the last year, the Department of Homeland Security(the federal department presiding over border issues), has altered its policy to force even legal asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico for the length of the process.
Migrants are now being turned away or detained for crossing in places that were traditionally considered appropriate for seeking asylum. DHS Secretary Nielsen’s recent dismissal and its aftermath have exposed the Trump Administration’s desire for tougher and more unconventional tactics to deal with the migrants piling up outside the border. Among them, re-instituting the horrific policy of family separation, and some less tragic but equally unconventional methods.
As of April 16th, 2019, another caravan of hundreds has departed San Pedro Sula, prepared to trek 2,500 miles to the United States.
© 2019; Matt Warrener. All Rights Reserved
