https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45951782
Migrant caravan: What is it and why does it matter?
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The convoy of migrants from Central America has grown into the thousands
Thousands of migrants from Central America are trudging north towards the US-Mexico border.
They say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
The journey poses a host of dangers, such as dehydration and criminal gangs, but many of the migrants say they feel safer travelling in numbers.
Here's what you need to know about the convoy of people known as the migrant caravan.
How did it begin?
On 12 October, in the crime-ridden Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, a group of 160 people gathered at a bus terminal and prepared to set off on the dangerous journey.
They had been planning the trek for more than a month, in an attempt to escape unemployment and the threat of violence in their home country.
Image copyright AFP
Most previous migrant caravans have numbered a few hundred people, but after a former politician posted about the plan on Facebook, news of it quickly spread and the numbers swelled.
By the time the group set off in the early hours of 13 October, more than 1,000 Hondurans had joined.
They have since crossed into neighbouring Guatemala and then Mexico, with thousands more people joining along the way.
Why did they form a caravan?
Most of the migrants say they are seeking a new life and better opportunities in the US or Mexico.
Others say they are fleeing violence in their home country and intend to apply for asylum.
Honduras, which has a population of about nine million, has endemic problems with gang violence, drug wars and corruption. The wider region has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Media captionMigrant caravan: "May God soften Trump's heart"
"It's our dream to reach the United States, we want to give our children a better future and here [in Honduras] we can't find work," one mother of two told local newspaper El Heraldo.
While Central Americans have long fled their homelands for the US and have sometimes joined forces along the way, the organised nature of this caravan is relatively new.
Migrants are often kidnapped by people traffickers and drugs gangs who force them to work for them. A large group such as this one is harder to target and therefore offers more protection.
How big is the group?
It is hard to say exactly, but the caravan has grown rapidly in size as it has moved north.
A spokesman for the United Nations said more than 7,000 people had joined the group as of 22 October, citing estimates from the International Organisation for Migration.
But some migrants have turned back or been offered asylum in Mexico, meaning that number has decreased.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A young child is helped after crossing the Suchiate River into Mexico
On 30 October, a US border official said the caravan was moving through southern Mexico and consisted of approximately 3,500 people.
Separately, the official said a second group of 3,000 mainly Honduran migrants was at the Guatemala-Mexico border.
What is life like for the migrants?
The journey is gruelling and poses a number of challenges for those who decide to join the caravan.
The hot weather means sunburn and dehydration are a constant risk, and some of the migrants have attempted to protect themselves with umbrellas and pieces of cardboard.
A number of people have fainted during the journey after walking for six consecutive days.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Migrants have been sleeping on the streets and in makeshift camps as they travel north
The migrants have been sleeping on the streets or in makeshift camps and there is a lack of clean water and sanitation.
Food is also in short supply, and local people have reportedly been providing the convoy with some food as it passes through.
At the border between Guatemala and Mexico, where migrants faced long waits as border officials checked their documents, there were clashes with police as tempers flared.
Some migrants threw stones and the police fired tear gas, leaving several people injured.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some children were separated from their parents during clashes between migrants and the police What happens if they reach the US?
There is a legal obligation to hear asylum claims from migrants who have arrived in the US if they say they fear violence in their home countries.
Those seeking asylum must be fleeing due to a serious fear of persecution. Under international law, these are considered refugees.
If an asylum seeker enters the US illegally, they are still entitled to a hearing of their claim.
But those seeking a better quality of life - even if they are fleeing devastating poverty - are not considered refugees and do not have the same protections.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the "credible fear" asylum rule has been exploited in the past, and announced in June that victims of domestic abuse and gang violence would no longer generally qualify under it.
This "Turn-back Policy" is currently subject to a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which accuses immigration officials of unlawfully delaying access to the asylum process.
Why are we hearing so much about this caravan?
Media captionTrump and the facts about the migrant caravan
Unlike previous smaller convoys of migrants, this one has drawn the attention of US President Donald Trump.
He has criticised a number of Central American countries for allowing people to leave the region and come "illegally" to the US.
Mr Trump has also threatened to cut off foreign aid to these countries, but he has not specified what money will be cut and it is unclear how he would do so.
Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump
Report
Curbing illegal immigration was one of the main campaign promises Mr Trump made when he ran for president.
His Republican Party is facing mid-term elections on 6 November and could be unseated by Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Mr Trump has said the "invasion" of migrants would find the US military waiting for them and, on 29 October, it was announced that the US would send 5,200 troops to the border with Mexico.
The president also told Fox News that "tent cities" would be built to house migrants seeking asylum in the US.
Related Topics
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...er-trump-veracruz-update-latest-a8614536.html
Migrant caravan - LIVE: Group travels through Mexico as Trump announces immigrants who throw stones could be shot
Critics say president is stoking fears about the caravan for political reasons ahead of midterm elections
Click to follow
The Independent US
Close
Thousands of refugees and migrants from Central America are walking and hitchhiking northwards through Mexico, and Donald Trump has dispatched more than 5,000 troops southwards to help secure the US border amid what has has termed “an emergency”.
In addition to this original group, more than 1,000 migrants in a second caravan that forced its way across the river from Guatemala have begun arriving in the southern Mexico city of Tapachula.
President Trump made clear Thursday he will do everything in his power to stop them, dispatching extra troops, threatening to shut border entirely and saying in an afternoon press conference the military would consider rocks thrown at active troops "firearms".
Key Points
8 minutes ago
Senator Bob Corker — a Republican who is resigning from his office — has weighed in on the migrant caravan, and has contradicted the messaging coming from the White House and many Republicans.
Mr Corker said during a recent event that the migrants coming from Central America are "being tortured ... I have a feeling that if you were living in one of these Central American countries and you had little girls and little boys you're raising you might be trying to figur eout a way to come to the great US of A".
16 minutes ago
The migrant caravan is facing some treacherous conditions, and it is not clear how many might be able to make it to either Mexico City or the US-Mexico border.
The group has seen 20 days of scorching heat, chills, rain, illness, and constant walking — conditions that have taken their toll on the psyches and health of the migrants.
The caravan reportedly began its march on Friday after spending a night in the rain in Matias Romero, Mexico. It was not clear if they were going to head east toward Mexico City or try to make it to the US border — a trip that is considered to be much more treacherous.
39 minutes ago
The racist advert released by Mr Trump claiming that Democrats allowed cop killer Luis Bracamontes to stay in the United States is actually false, as it turns out.
Seeking to energize his base with just days to go, the president tweeted a video featuring Bracamones, who killed tow police deputies in the Sacramento are in 2014. Bracamontes is shown spewing profanities during his trial, and the president claimed that "Democrats let him into our country", and that "Democrats let him stay".
Problem is, though, that those statements aren't completely accurate — he entered the US during administrations of both Democrats and Republicans, and was actually released after arrest by a close Trump ally. Here's the timeline:
Bracamontes first came to the United States in 1993 at the age of 16 when Demcoratic President Bill Clinton was president. He was subsequently arrested in 1996 on deportable drug offenses related to marijuana possession. He then served four months in jail and was then deported by US officials.
He served time then in the so-called tent-city jail overseen by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — a Republican and the recipient of Mr Trump's first presidential pardon.
Baracamontes then returned to the US, and was arrested once again on drug charges in 1998, but was released "for unknown reasons" by Mr Arpaio's office.
He was arrested again in 2001 on marijuana charges and deported three days ltaer. Republican President George W Bush was president at the time.
Baracamontes then returned to the US a short time later — he was then married in 2002 and eventually moved to the Salt Lake City area before killing those police in 2014 during a methamphetamine-fueled trip.
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump has said that he is prepared to send as many as 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border — but how does that compare to other deployments of American troops around the world?
If that happens, there will be roughly the same number of troops at that border as are stationed in Afghanistan, where the US has been fighting a war since 2001.
It would be much larger than the 2,000 troops in Syria, and the 5,200 in Iraq.
The US also has troops stationed in friendly countries, including 44,857 in Germany, 25,598 in South Korea, 58,886 in Japan, 10,121 in the UK, 4,836 in Bahrain, and 14,690 in Italy.
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump has suggested that American troops he plans on positioning at the US border would shoot at migrants if they throw rocks at the soldiers.
Mr Trump said so during a meandering speech in the White House on Thursday, when he also announced that he would be signing an executive order "next week" that will be aimed at restricting American asylum rules.
The president suggested that those migrants, once they make it to the US-Mexico border, could be shot if they throw rocks, because the military would consider rocks as firearms.
"I hope not. I hope not — but it's the military," Mr Trump said when asked if shots would be fired.
"I hope there won't be that," he continued before suggesting the rocks would be considered as firearms "because there's not much difference when you get hit in the face with a rock".
1 hour ago
A group of migrants making their way north to the US from Central America have filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging that President Donald Trump has violated their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment by suggesting he plans on stopping the caravan.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and names the president alongside Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and several offices related to American immigration forces.
"Trump's professed and enacted policy towards thousands of caravanners seeking asylum in the United States is shockingly unconstitutional," the lawsuit reads.
It continues: "President Trump continues to abuse the law, including constitutional rights, to deter Central Americans from exercising their lawful right to seek asylum in the United States, and the fact that innocent children are involved matters none to President Trump".
2 hours ago
Donald Trump and the Republicans have released what has been described as one of the most racist political adverts in recent years and an attempt to rally the president’s base by portraying Central American migrants as police killers set to overrun the country.
You can read more on this from our US editor, Andrew Buncombe, here:
Outrage as Trump releases 'racist dog-whistle' midterms advert
Migrant caravan: What is it and why does it matter?
- 30 October 2018
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Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The convoy of migrants from Central America has grown into the thousands
Thousands of migrants from Central America are trudging north towards the US-Mexico border.
They say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
The journey poses a host of dangers, such as dehydration and criminal gangs, but many of the migrants say they feel safer travelling in numbers.
Here's what you need to know about the convoy of people known as the migrant caravan.
How did it begin?
On 12 October, in the crime-ridden Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, a group of 160 people gathered at a bus terminal and prepared to set off on the dangerous journey.
They had been planning the trek for more than a month, in an attempt to escape unemployment and the threat of violence in their home country.
Image copyright AFP
Most previous migrant caravans have numbered a few hundred people, but after a former politician posted about the plan on Facebook, news of it quickly spread and the numbers swelled.
By the time the group set off in the early hours of 13 October, more than 1,000 Hondurans had joined.
They have since crossed into neighbouring Guatemala and then Mexico, with thousands more people joining along the way.
Why did they form a caravan?
Most of the migrants say they are seeking a new life and better opportunities in the US or Mexico.
Others say they are fleeing violence in their home country and intend to apply for asylum.
Honduras, which has a population of about nine million, has endemic problems with gang violence, drug wars and corruption. The wider region has one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Media captionMigrant caravan: "May God soften Trump's heart"
"It's our dream to reach the United States, we want to give our children a better future and here [in Honduras] we can't find work," one mother of two told local newspaper El Heraldo.
While Central Americans have long fled their homelands for the US and have sometimes joined forces along the way, the organised nature of this caravan is relatively new.
Migrants are often kidnapped by people traffickers and drugs gangs who force them to work for them. A large group such as this one is harder to target and therefore offers more protection.
How big is the group?
It is hard to say exactly, but the caravan has grown rapidly in size as it has moved north.
A spokesman for the United Nations said more than 7,000 people had joined the group as of 22 October, citing estimates from the International Organisation for Migration.
But some migrants have turned back or been offered asylum in Mexico, meaning that number has decreased.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A young child is helped after crossing the Suchiate River into Mexico
On 30 October, a US border official said the caravan was moving through southern Mexico and consisted of approximately 3,500 people.
Separately, the official said a second group of 3,000 mainly Honduran migrants was at the Guatemala-Mexico border.
What is life like for the migrants?
The journey is gruelling and poses a number of challenges for those who decide to join the caravan.
The hot weather means sunburn and dehydration are a constant risk, and some of the migrants have attempted to protect themselves with umbrellas and pieces of cardboard.
A number of people have fainted during the journey after walking for six consecutive days.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Migrants have been sleeping on the streets and in makeshift camps as they travel north
The migrants have been sleeping on the streets or in makeshift camps and there is a lack of clean water and sanitation.
Food is also in short supply, and local people have reportedly been providing the convoy with some food as it passes through.
At the border between Guatemala and Mexico, where migrants faced long waits as border officials checked their documents, there were clashes with police as tempers flared.
Some migrants threw stones and the police fired tear gas, leaving several people injured.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some children were separated from their parents during clashes between migrants and the police What happens if they reach the US?
There is a legal obligation to hear asylum claims from migrants who have arrived in the US if they say they fear violence in their home countries.
Those seeking asylum must be fleeing due to a serious fear of persecution. Under international law, these are considered refugees.
If an asylum seeker enters the US illegally, they are still entitled to a hearing of their claim.
But those seeking a better quality of life - even if they are fleeing devastating poverty - are not considered refugees and do not have the same protections.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the "credible fear" asylum rule has been exploited in the past, and announced in June that victims of domestic abuse and gang violence would no longer generally qualify under it.
This "Turn-back Policy" is currently subject to a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which accuses immigration officials of unlawfully delaying access to the asylum process.
Why are we hearing so much about this caravan?
Media captionTrump and the facts about the migrant caravan
Unlike previous smaller convoys of migrants, this one has drawn the attention of US President Donald Trump.
He has criticised a number of Central American countries for allowing people to leave the region and come "illegally" to the US.
Mr Trump has also threatened to cut off foreign aid to these countries, but he has not specified what money will be cut and it is unclear how he would do so.
Image Copyright @realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump
Report
Curbing illegal immigration was one of the main campaign promises Mr Trump made when he ran for president.
His Republican Party is facing mid-term elections on 6 November and could be unseated by Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Mr Trump has said the "invasion" of migrants would find the US military waiting for them and, on 29 October, it was announced that the US would send 5,200 troops to the border with Mexico.
The president also told Fox News that "tent cities" would be built to house migrants seeking asylum in the US.
Related Topics
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...er-trump-veracruz-update-latest-a8614536.html
Migrant caravan - LIVE: Group travels through Mexico as Trump announces immigrants who throw stones could be shot
Critics say president is stoking fears about the caravan for political reasons ahead of midterm elections
- Clark Mindock New York @ClarkMindock ,
- Chris Riotta @chrisriotta
- 8 minutes ago
- 0 comments
Click to follow
The Independent US
Close
Thousands of refugees and migrants from Central America are walking and hitchhiking northwards through Mexico, and Donald Trump has dispatched more than 5,000 troops southwards to help secure the US border amid what has has termed “an emergency”.
In addition to this original group, more than 1,000 migrants in a second caravan that forced its way across the river from Guatemala have begun arriving in the southern Mexico city of Tapachula.
President Trump made clear Thursday he will do everything in his power to stop them, dispatching extra troops, threatening to shut border entirely and saying in an afternoon press conference the military would consider rocks thrown at active troops "firearms".
Key Points
- Mr Trump says that migrants at the US-Mexico border who throw rocks at American troops may be shot
- As many as 2,000 people in the caravan heading towards the US-Mexico border are thought to be children
- Many of the migrants are suffering with few supplies — they are in danger of heat stroke, dehydration, and many other life threatening conditions
8 minutes ago
Senator Bob Corker — a Republican who is resigning from his office — has weighed in on the migrant caravan, and has contradicted the messaging coming from the White House and many Republicans.
Mr Corker said during a recent event that the migrants coming from Central America are "being tortured ... I have a feeling that if you were living in one of these Central American countries and you had little girls and little boys you're raising you might be trying to figur eout a way to come to the great US of A".
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 16:58
16 minutes ago
The migrant caravan is facing some treacherous conditions, and it is not clear how many might be able to make it to either Mexico City or the US-Mexico border.
The group has seen 20 days of scorching heat, chills, rain, illness, and constant walking — conditions that have taken their toll on the psyches and health of the migrants.
The caravan reportedly began its march on Friday after spending a night in the rain in Matias Romero, Mexico. It was not clear if they were going to head east toward Mexico City or try to make it to the US border — a trip that is considered to be much more treacherous.
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 15:58
39 minutes ago
The racist advert released by Mr Trump claiming that Democrats allowed cop killer Luis Bracamontes to stay in the United States is actually false, as it turns out.
Seeking to energize his base with just days to go, the president tweeted a video featuring Bracamones, who killed tow police deputies in the Sacramento are in 2014. Bracamontes is shown spewing profanities during his trial, and the president claimed that "Democrats let him into our country", and that "Democrats let him stay".
Problem is, though, that those statements aren't completely accurate — he entered the US during administrations of both Democrats and Republicans, and was actually released after arrest by a close Trump ally. Here's the timeline:
Bracamontes first came to the United States in 1993 at the age of 16 when Demcoratic President Bill Clinton was president. He was subsequently arrested in 1996 on deportable drug offenses related to marijuana possession. He then served four months in jail and was then deported by US officials.
He served time then in the so-called tent-city jail overseen by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — a Republican and the recipient of Mr Trump's first presidential pardon.
Baracamontes then returned to the US, and was arrested once again on drug charges in 1998, but was released "for unknown reasons" by Mr Arpaio's office.
He was arrested again in 2001 on marijuana charges and deported three days ltaer. Republican President George W Bush was president at the time.
Baracamontes then returned to the US a short time later — he was then married in 2002 and eventually moved to the Salt Lake City area before killing those police in 2014 during a methamphetamine-fueled trip.
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 15:33
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump has said that he is prepared to send as many as 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border — but how does that compare to other deployments of American troops around the world?
If that happens, there will be roughly the same number of troops at that border as are stationed in Afghanistan, where the US has been fighting a war since 2001.
It would be much larger than the 2,000 troops in Syria, and the 5,200 in Iraq.
The US also has troops stationed in friendly countries, including 44,857 in Germany, 25,598 in South Korea, 58,886 in Japan, 10,121 in the UK, 4,836 in Bahrain, and 14,690 in Italy.
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 14:52
1 hour ago
President Donald Trump has suggested that American troops he plans on positioning at the US border would shoot at migrants if they throw rocks at the soldiers.
Mr Trump said so during a meandering speech in the White House on Thursday, when he also announced that he would be signing an executive order "next week" that will be aimed at restricting American asylum rules.
The president suggested that those migrants, once they make it to the US-Mexico border, could be shot if they throw rocks, because the military would consider rocks as firearms.
"I hope not. I hope not — but it's the military," Mr Trump said when asked if shots would be fired.
"I hope there won't be that," he continued before suggesting the rocks would be considered as firearms "because there's not much difference when you get hit in the face with a rock".
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 14:59
1 hour ago
A group of migrants making their way north to the US from Central America have filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging that President Donald Trump has violated their due process rights under the Fifth Amendment by suggesting he plans on stopping the caravan.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and names the president alongside Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and several offices related to American immigration forces.
"Trump's professed and enacted policy towards thousands of caravanners seeking asylum in the United States is shockingly unconstitutional," the lawsuit reads.
It continues: "President Trump continues to abuse the law, including constitutional rights, to deter Central Americans from exercising their lawful right to seek asylum in the United States, and the fact that innocent children are involved matters none to President Trump".
- Clark Mindock
- 2 November 2018 14:59
2 hours ago
Donald Trump and the Republicans have released what has been described as one of the most racist political adverts in recent years and an attempt to rally the president’s base by portraying Central American migrants as police killers set to overrun the country.
You can read more on this from our US editor, Andrew Buncombe, here:
Outrage as Trump releases 'racist dog-whistle' midterms advert
- Lucy Anna Gray
- 2 November 2018 13:42
