Americans feeling relieved by reported declines in illegal crossings at the southern border shouldn’t get too comfortable. Mexico’s interior chief confirms that a new U.S.-bound caravan is getting under way in Honduras.
Scheduled to depart San Pedro Sula this month, the caravan will carry an unknown number of Central American migrants. If it’s anything like the last few that started in Honduras, expect a large contingent.
Mexican authorities are talking a good game, for now. Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said her government is “very open to being a country of asylum and to migrants who want to stay and work, to obtain resident status. … Those who only want to use Mexico as a transit country are not welcome.”
Yet it’s unclear how seriously Mexico intends to screen caravans and monitor their movements. Also unknown is whether that country has the political will or operational wherewithal to make good on its pledge to “promptly return” transients who keep heading north. Last year’s caravans barged through Mexico with only sporadic and token resistance from overwhelmed law enforcement.
Tracking a plethora of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and migrant-enabling religious organizations in Mexico and the U.S., “Open Borders, Inc.” author Michelle Malkin concluded that such groups “act like Sherpas [guides].”
“It’s basically a bed & breakfast network,” Malkin mused.
On cue, the bishop of Tapachula, Mexico, announced earlier this month that the Catholic Church was prepared to aid members of the new migrant caravan. The bishop’s border town was swamped by a massive caravan that entered Mexico via Guatemala in the fall of 2018.
With infrastructure in place, Mexico City and Washington can expect a renewed flow of northbound migrants posing as asylum seekers or refugees. The brief winter pause appears to be thawing as the next migratory season approaches.
