Defense Secretary James Mattis is preparing to send the perfect “welcome party” to the U.S. border to greet the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico. As the word is getting out, would-be illegal immigrants are already fleeing in fear. The caravan continues to shrink as the “Mad Dog” makes it clear, he isn’t messing around.
Thousands of migrants are currently headed for the United States. Some 1,300 people left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras last Saturday, in what some are calling the “March of the Migrant.” Over the weekend, that number increased to 7,000 people as the caravan crossed over the southern Mexico border. Estimates cited by El Universal, a Mexican newspaper, reached as high as 14,000 people by the start of the week.
Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis responded to the crisis by preparing to send a “welcome party” to the border to greet the migrants intent on invading our country illegally — he is currently expected to sign an order, possibly as soon as today, to send 800 or more U.S. troops to take on the caravan.
Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to sign deployment orders as soon as Thursday that could send 800 or more troops to the border with Mexico to help border patrol authorities stop a caravan of migrants from Central America moving through Mexico to enter the US, according to three administration officials.
The officials tell CNN final details are being worked out including where the troops will come from and their specific tasks. The troops will not engage in lethal operations to stop the migrants. Instead they are expected to provide fencing, wall materials and other technical support at several key points along the border where it is believed the migrants may try to cross.
The troops will also provide tents and medical care for border authorities in those areas. The troops retain the right of self-defense, but border patrol officers will still be the ones physically stopping illegal migration, the officials said. [Source: ABC15]
The caravan has reportedly already begun to shrink. Perhaps the threat of encountering the most powerful military in the world could convince many more of the migrants in the caravan to turn around and head home.
“Sickness, fear, and police harassment have slowly whittled the size of the migrant caravan, but thousands remained on the northward march even as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to sign an order sending 800 or more troops to the southern border,” reports Daily Mail.
The caravan, still numbering some 4,000 to 5,000, set off from from Mapastepec, Mexico at dawn on Thursday with more than 1,000 miles still to go and the rigors of the trek toward the U.S. taking their toll.
In the 95 miles since the caravan burst through the border with Guatemala over the weekend, about 1,200 have left the caravan. An estimated 500 people have voluntarily accepted bus trips back to their home countries, and 1,700 have dropped out to apply for asylum in Mexico, officials in that country say.
While 4,000 to 5,000 migrants is nothing to scoff at, this is certainly a much smaller number than the 14,000, which was being reported by some outlets just days ago.
“We didn’t know what lay ahead,” said Pedro Arturo Torres, a migrant from Honduras. “We want to return to our country, where you can get by — even if just with beans, but you can survive, there with our families, at peace.”
Of course, Torres’ statement was not what the mainstream media and the political left wanted to hear since they have been working overtime to convince us that there is no other option for these people than to immigrate illegally to the United States because they face such dire straits in their home countries.
According to Torres, that simply isn’t true. He may be poor, but he does have food to eat. He may live out a modest existence, but admittedly, he gets to live in peace with his family in Honduras. He and his peers have no right to invade out border illegally simply because they are poor. His choice to turn around and go home was the right one. Let’s hope others realize the same.
