Migrant Caravan Heads North Ahead of US Election

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Facts

  • A group of approximately 2K migrants departed from Mexico's southern border Sunday, aiming to reach the US.[1]
  • This comes weeks before the Nov. 5 US presidential election, which has featured immigration as a contentious issue. Some migrants cited a lack of jobs in Mexico's south and a delay in asylum appointments in the US as inspiration for this latest trek.[1]
  • Pres. Joe Biden's administration recently announced an executive order extending the number of days it takes for the asylum process to reopen, which tightened regulations from a previous executive order that began to reduce illegal border crossings in June.[2]
  • The caravan reportedly includes people from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Central America, Haiti, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, Afghanistan, and Nepal, with many allegedly citing fears of a potential Donald Trump election win as the reason for making the trip now.[3]
  • A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection said they're aware of the reported caravan and will 'continue to monitor developments' with other agencies. The person also said these caravans 'generally travel very slowly' and usually 'splinter' before reaching the US.[3]
  • This follows a separate wave of caravans — totaling about 4K people — that began traveling to the US from the beginning of the month through two weekends ago.[4]

Sources: [1]Associated Press, [2]Daily Caller, [3]Newsweek and [4]Borderreport.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Of course, these people are risking life and limb to reach the US before the election. The Biden administration's open-border policies, which have so greatly harmed the US, are attractive when compared to Trump's plans to protect the US from invasion and keep these unvetted migrants from illegally crossing the southern border. The US can't be the world's oasis at the expense of national security.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Daily Kos. From day one of Trump's initial campaign for president — and maybe even before that — Republicans have used election season to drum up Americans' fears of an invading caravan in order to steer votes. As we've seen in the past, this is just one of the numerous distortions Republicans tell about immigration. Once the election passes, stories of caravans usually disappear.