HUIXTLA, Mexico — The Central American migrants moving their way through Mexico Tuesday as part of a controversial caravan — one President Donald Trump is pushing hard as a midterms election issue — is forging ahead in its long journey to the U.S-Mexico border.
The first waves of migrants — who UN officials estimate may be as high as 7,200 and growing — began arriving late Monday to the small southern Mexican town of Huixtla after an exhausting eight-hour trek. Many staked out grassy spots in the town square to sleep outdoors overnight before continuing their grueling trip north on Tuesday. They were at least 1,100 miles from McAllen, Texas, the nearest U.S.-Mexico border entry.
The caravan began October 13 when a group of mostly Honduran migrants embarked on the trip north, fleeing government corruption, extreme poverty and rampant violence. The caravan has already trekked through Guatemala and is passing through southern Mexico with migrants from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. It was organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a human rights group that provides aid and legal assistance to migrants. It’s the second organized caravan this year, but this one is considerably larger and has garnered more media attention than one last spring.
Trump has been railing about the latest migrant caravan since last week, taking to Twitter to rip the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras for failing to deal with the migration crisis, and threatening to reduce U.S. aid even more to these countries. He’s also faulted Mexico, though its government has sent federal police and teamed up with more than 30 UN officials to review asylum applications of migrants before they can get to the U.S.
Trump told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview aboard Air Force One Monday that he would send as many troops as necessary to the U.S.-Mexican border to block the caravan, calling their trek “an assault on our country.”
He later slammed Democrats over immigration during a raucous rally in Houston, telling a packed arena that the migrant caravan would be a defining issue in the midterms in two weeks.
Speaking at a rally to support incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz’s reelection campaign, Trump ramped up his effort to tie the thousands-strong group of immigrants to the Democrats hours after he claimed, without evidence, that the caravan included “unknown Middle Easterners.”
"The Democrats have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country," Trump told thousands gathered in the Houston Toyota Center. "The crisis on our border right now as we speak is the sole result of Democrat laws and activist, Democrat judges."
More: President Trump blasts Democrats over immigration, caravan during rally for Ted Cruz
Trump repeated a claim that "the Democrats had something to do" with the caravan of Central Americans working its way toward the United States. Neither the president nor the White House have provided evidence of that claim, which Democrats have denied.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, an outspoken critic of Trump who represents a border state, took issue with Trump’s rhetoric, telling CNN in an interview that it’s “a fear tactic.”
“With a border that large, you're going to have people come across that are coming from other countries and some, obviously, with nefarious motives,” he said. “But to make it sound like this is in order to put people in here who would do us harm and to emphasize the — the criminals among them — I just don't think that it's the right way to approach it.”
“These [migrants], for the most part, overwhelmingly are people who are either fleeing violence or looking for a better life and we have programs for some of them, asylum programs. And others, obviously we can't accept everyone.”
“We have to have border security, but it needs to be done in a thoughtful manner,” Flake said.
More: Caravan migrants flood southern Mexico, tugging suitcases and hopes of reaching U.S.-Mexico border
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, sided with Trump.
“PresTrump as commander in chief is right to defend country/borders & stop the attack on natl sovereignty from the 7000+ migrant caravan heading to USA,” he tweeted Monday. “Not fair to legal immigrants going through proper LEGAL process We need to help Trump admin secure border+close immig loopholes.”
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Trump’s plan to cut aid to Central American countries is misguided.
“Cutting funding would make the problem worse, not better,” she said in a statement.
Mexican and UN officials, according to the latest figures provided publicly by the Mexican government, has sent 640 migrants to the National Institute of Migration because they were interested in “seeking refuge” in Mexico. About 500 were assisted in voluntarily returning to Honduras and Guatemala. Another 1,000 are being repatriated to Guatemala. About 900 migrants who tried to illegally enter Mexico will also be deported to their home countries.
The Associated Press and USA Today’s Sergio Bustos contributed
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