To review: A couple of months ago, Central Americans formed groups for their protection and began traveling North through Mexico in the hopes of requesting asylum when they reached the U.S. border. asylum is a form of legal entry to the U.S. If they apply, their cases would be assessed under U.S. law, and, if they had a good case, they would be allowed to legally reside in the U.S. If their case was denied, they would be sent back to their home country.
Rather than let the legal process take its normal course, President Trump freaked out about the "caravans," compared them to an invading army, and repeatedly stated that the groups of people seeking legal entry to the U.S. were, in fact, a bunch of "illegals." Trump sent the U.S. army to the border, he closed one of the busiest U.S.-Mexico border crossings, made the process of claiming asylum at the border crossing much more time consuming (i.e. "metering"), authorized the use of tear gas against anyone who approached the border fence, and pressured Mexico to settle the migrants within its borders in the hopes it would keep them from crossing into the U.S. As a result some, migrants are going home...
Rather than let the legal process take its normal course, President Trump freaked out about the "caravans," compared them to an invading army, and repeatedly stated that the groups of people seeking legal entry to the U.S. were, in fact, a bunch of "illegals." Trump sent the U.S. army to the border, he closed one of the busiest U.S.-Mexico border crossings, made the process of claiming asylum at the border crossing much more time consuming (i.e. "metering"), authorized the use of tear gas against anyone who approached the border fence, and pressured Mexico to settle the migrants within its borders in the hopes it would keep them from crossing into the U.S. As a result some, migrants are going home...
But some migrants have arrived at another conclusion: Their best bet now, they believe, is to try to cross the border illegally.
Some of them have sought entry by clandestine routes, hiring smugglers to show them the blind spots along the border and guide them across, though few can afford that.
Other migrants from the caravans have on recent nights made their way unguided out to the westernmost stretch of the border, where the tall metal border fence passes through sunburned hills and alongside residential communities in western Tijuana, emerges at the beach and plunges into the Pacific Ocean.Congratulations, President Trump! You have taken a group of people who would have worked within the system to legally enter the U.S. (giving your administration the power to send them back, if it wanted) and has turned many of them into the very undocumented immigrants you like to fear-monger about.
