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Caravan of Honduran Migrants Overwhelms Mexican Border

<p>A group of 3&comma;000-4&comma;000 Honduran migrants arrived Friday at the border of Guatemala and Mexico&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When the migrants were told that only 100-200 people would be allowed to enter each day&comma; they tore down a border fence and attacked police with bottles and rocks&period; Pregnant woman and children were pushed to the front of the group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The caravan is believed to have formed in San Pedro Sula &lpar;a violent city in northwest Honduras&rpar; earlier this month when a group of 200 people agreed on social media to travel to the US together&period; The group quickly grew in size as more and more people saw an opportunity to travel to the US without paying a smuggler&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We just want to seek a better future&comma;” says Dania López&comma; 30&comma; a single mother with three kids&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In Honduras&comma; you work to survive and that’s not a worthy life&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8212&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last week&comma; President Trump threatened to use military force if Mexico fails to stop the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;onslaught” of migrants from reaching the border&period; He also threatened to abandon NAFTA 2&period;0&comma; halt payments to Guatemala and El Salvador&comma; and shut down the southern border&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The assault on our country&&num;8230&semi;including the criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in&comma; is far more important to me&comma; as president&comma; than trade or the USMCA&comma;” tweeted Trump&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mexico responded by offering to grant asylum to the entire caravan and has appealed to the UN for help reviewing asylum claims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Individuals deemed to have legitimate claims will be sent to a host country &&num;8211&semi; which could be the US or any other country that has an agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees&period; Individuals without a valid claim will be deported&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Migrants who evade authorities in Mexico and apply for asylum in the US will have to prove they are fleeing persecution to qualify for asylum&period; But as security analysts have pointed out&comma; most of these migrants are not fleeing persecution&semi; they are looking for a better life or trying to reconnect with family members living illegally in the US&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8212&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Trump’s harsh rhetoric about the caravan has infuriated Democrats and energized Republicans ahead of midterms&period; His words are expected to have the biggest impact on independent voters&comma; who could side with either party on immigration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Thursday&comma; Newt Gingrich predicted the election would come down to two words&colon; Kavanaugh and caravan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This caravan brings into stark contrast and just really highlights some of the things Trump is fighting for when it comes to border security&comma;” said Travis Korson&comma; a Republican who works at Madison Strategies consulting firm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-medium wp-image-760" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchingbagpost&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;10&sol;181019143838-03-migrant-caravan-1019-exlarge-169-300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> This is not about desperation&period; This is about opportunity&period; They are headed to the U&period;S&period; to get the equivalent of &dollar;200 per hour&comma; compared to an &dollar;8 dollar minimum wage&period; Ironically&comma; these are people who are willing to risk all to seek a better life and are likely the kind of immigrants we want to come into America&period; However&comma; if we allow these immigrants to come into the U&period;S&period; it will open the floodgates for illegal immigrants who will pile against our border&comma; and become a massive humanitarian crisis &lpar;which we will have to pay to solve&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By contrast&comma; the folks moving from Venezuela to Colombia&comma; were fleeing less horrific circumstances than can be found in the slums of Honduras&comma; but they were more desperate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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