Honduran march to USA stirs up Trump's base

With early mid term voting beginning in many U.S. cities, and  with an attendant rush to vote, accelerated on both sides from the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the stakes are high, and in a few days activity is bound to reach a fever pitch; now adding to that frenzy is the issue of thousands of Hondurans coming to the United States seeking political asylum in the face of drug wars, gangs, and political corruption, beginning this past Friday.

It has also allowed President Trump to use it to galvanize the base, as  no other issue has, noted The Economist, “More than any other single issue, attitudes towards immigration define Mr. Trump’s base.”

In recent days, the president has threatened to send in troops to protect the border between the U.S. and Mexico, a move whose optics, even if it fails to materialize, cannot fail to push his supporters to the polls.

"Full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing our Southern Border," Trump tweeted. He also added that "People have to apply for asylum in Mexico first, and if they fail to do that, the U.S. will turn them away."

“Nevertheless, around 3,000 people were marching in the caravan on the Mexican side, according to an estimate from a federal police commander whose forces were closely monitoring the migrants' progress,” reported france24.com.

Mexico seems to have supported Trump, by noting their priority for asylum in their country first, prompting some Mexicans to complain that they are doing the dirty work of the American president.

Nevertheless, the pictures, and videos and sounds of throngs of desperate people, of men, women and children, some barely dressed, or shod, for a walking journey crossing hundreds of miles, undeterred has garnered sympathy in many quarters.

After being processed, “the next stop on a journey of at least 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) is to the border between Mexico and the United States, the site continued.

“No one is going to stop us, after all we've gone through," said 21-year-old Aaron Juarez, who was accompanied by his wife and baby and was walking with difficulty because of an injury.”

"We are tired, but very happy, we are united and strong," added Edwin Geovanni Enamorado, a Honduran farmer who said he was forced to leave his country because of intimidation by racketeering gangs.”

In another rejoinder, Trump tweeted, on Tuesday that he was prepared “to terminate all aid to the developing Central American nation and others if leaders in the countries don't manage to turn the migrants back.

"The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!" Trump tweeted.

“It is not entirely clear what Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández can do to turn the migrants back now that they are on Guatemalan soil,” reported USA Today

“The president's threat comes as his administration has proposed deep cuts to Latin America and the Caribbean aid. The administration is currently asking Congress for only $1 billion for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, according to the Congressional Research Service. That's a major drop from 2011, when the region got nearly $1.9 billion.”

On the cutting boards is also one that “Honduran government officials have expressed worries over,” since his “recent decision to end the "Temporary Protected Status" program, which covers about 86,000 Honduran nationals already in the U.S.

The humanitarian program allows certain immigrants to temporarily remain in the U.S. if their home countries have experienced armed conflict or natural disasters. Hondurans first received TPS eligibility in 1999 under then-President Bill Clinton following Hurricane Mitch, a massive storm that destroyed much of the country's economy.

The end of TPS would mean those 86,000 Hondurans would have to return to Honduras or stay in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants.”

“The Mexican government reported late Tuesday that the number of caravan migrants dipped to about 4,500 people, with those dropping out either having applied for asylum in Mexico or having chosen to return home,” noted an updated report from USA Today.

Currently, “Mexico’s Interior Ministry said immigration officials have received 1,699 asylum claims, while 495 Hondurans have asked to be returned to their country of origin. The Central American migrants come mostly from Honduras but also includes those from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. The status of about 500 other migrants is unclear. United Nation officials estimated Monday there were more than 7,200 migrants in the caravan.”

Kevin Maldonado. A “20-year-old from Honduras said he had walked six hours from Tapachula to Huixtla under a scorching sun, passing through a Mexican immigration checkpoint just before entering Huixtla.”

Noting, “a plunge in coffee prices prompted him to consider taking the treacherous trip to the United States, and he said he is not discouraged or dissuaded by Trump’s remarks and threats that the caravan would be stopped by soldiers, if necessary, and remains optimistic he can get to the U.S.” adding “Maybe he’ll have a change of heart and give us a chance.”

Long a bone of contention, or inaction, as The Economist noted, the legacy of an immigration movement,, both legal and illegal, that began in 19th century America has festered, along a path imperiled both by politics, with pressure from those seeking entry to the States, as well as those employers who wanted them, as a cheap labor source.

Ironically, the flow of Southern immigrants to the States, has slowed down: “As the tide goes out, a big population of undocumented migrants is being left behind. After peaking in 2007 at around 12.2m people, the undocumented population in 2016 stood at 11.3m, comprising just over 25% of all the country’s immigrants, and about 5% of the American workforce.”

Despite these numbers the use of fear by Trump, and probably, the mistaken origins of the marchers, is enough to create horror in the minds of his base; and as has been noted before, being foreign born is not enough, being non-white and not Protestant makes the situation even more combustible, for those that oppose the march.

Efforts at any level of compromise have been defeated, ever since America’s first attempt at numeral countries occurred in 1924 with the Johnson-Reed Act, and hobbled through the end of the quotas in 1965, with legislation that favored skilled workers and their immediate family members already living in the U.S.

The failure to provide “a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants and [that] ended family reunification, leaving only the spouse and children of a green-card holder eligible to legally immigrate to America,” failed in the Senate.

“A similar measure in 2013 passed the Senate, with the votes of all 52 Democratic senators, but died in the Republican-dominated House, which appeared interested only in enforcement. Shortly before that bill died, President Barack Obama enacted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) with an executive order. This allowed undocumented immigrants brought to America as children who enrolled in or graduated from school, university or the armed forces and had no criminal record temporary, renewable legal working papers. Mr Trump tried to end DACA last September.”

Attempts to identify organizers of this march have centered on Pueblo Sin Fronteras, however, “There’s no one in charge of this thing,” Alex Mensing, an organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, an immigration rights group, told USA TODAY. “It’s a mass exodus.”

There have been attempts, by some, to contrast this with the 1980 Mariel boatlift from Cuba,”  in an effort to “attempt to overwhelm U.S. immigration law on the pretext of celebrating American freedom”, noted an editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

In contrast they also note that “A Mariel replay now seems to be coming from Honduras. Though the details are murky, we do know that former Honduran congressman Bartolo Fuentes of the left-wing Libre Party has admitted to organizing this caravan.”

Whether this is factual or note, the comparison seems weak, obscuring the very real dangers that these Central Americans face at home, yet the Journal also takes a hard line and stated that “Criminal organizations and governments like Venezuela would benefit from chaos at the U.S. border that embarrasses the Trump Administration before the election. Many nongovernmental organizations on the left also support the migrants’ “right” to the American dream.”

On suspicion, if nothing else, “Over the border, Guatemalan police officers detained Bartolo Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker, from the middle of the large crowd that he and three other organizers had led from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, since Saturday.”

In response, “The Honduran security ministry said Fuentes had been detained because he “did not comply with Guatemalan immigration rules” and would be deported back to Honduras in the coming hours.”

While the press and the governments of all three countries pick and pan each other, there is in the making a situation that could result for those supporters of Trump, an embarrassment that might lead to cries for compassion.

In a remarkable show of military power the  The Hill reported, on Monday (10/29) that “The U.S. military will send more than 5,200 active duty troops to the southern border with Mexico by the end of the week, the Defense Department announced Monday.

“By the end of this week will we deploy over 5,200 soldiers to the southwest border. That is just the start of this operation, we’ll continue to adjust the numbers and inform you of those,” U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command head Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy told reporters.

The troops are in addition to the 2,092 National Guard troops deployed in April to the border as part of Operation Guardian Support.

The troops will come from Fort Bragg, N.C., Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Wash., Fort Stewart, Ga., Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Knox, Ky., and Fort Riley, Kan., among other locations.

O'Shaughnessy said that 800 troops are already on their way to the border. He added that the soldiers deployed will be armed.

“We have the authority, give to us by Sec. Mattis, the units that are normally assigned weapons, they are, in fact, deploying with weapons,” he said.

The optics on this further brands America as an isolated nation, replete with a show of power to enforce it. The spectacle of a Bloody Sunday is one that makes many people shudder.

Updated: 29 October 2018