Carolyn Kaster/AP
A caravan of Central American migrants swelled to more than 5,000 people as it reached Mexico’s southern border on Sunday, marching past Mexican police and immigration officials and towards the United States. In response, President Donald Trump tweeted a familiar call to “stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing” the US-Mexico border, adding that the courts “are asking the US to do things that are not doable!”
Full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing our Souther Border. People have to apply for asylum in Mexico first, and if they fail to do that, the U.S. will turn them away. The courts are asking the U.S. to do things that are not doable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2018
The Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat Party. Change the immigration laws NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2018
At campaign rallies this week ahead of the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump capitalized on the caravan’s journey, which began in Honduras in mid-October, stoking concerns over immigration and calling for a stop to the march. At a Thursday rally in Montana, Trump threatened to “send the military to defend our southern border if necessary” and blamed Democrats for the “illegal immigration onslaught.” He has also threatened to pull foreign aid to Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador and to close the US border if Mexican officials don’t stop the caravan.
At a rally in Arizona on Friday, Trump repeated a bogus claim that Democrats were behind the migration and that some “bad people” were part of the thousands of migrants heading to the border. He told supporters: “This country doesn’t want them.”
President Trump: "You have some very, very bad people in the caravan. You have some very tough criminal elements within the caravan. But I will seal off the border before they come into this country, and I'll bring out our military." https://t.co/SJoYwvF4mt pic.twitter.com/9TRUjfpmyr
— The Hill (@thehill) October 21, 2018
