Tag: migrant caravan

Army assessment of migrant caravans undermines Trump’s rhetoric

Soldiers install protective wire at a bridge between the United States and Mexico on Friday in Hidalgo, Tex. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Military planners anticipate that only a small percentage of Central American migrants traveling in the caravans President Trump characterizes as “an invasion” will reach the U.S. border, even as a force of more than 7,000 active-duty troops mobilizes to prevent them from entering the United States.

According to military planning documents, about 20 percent of the roughly 7,000 migrants traveling through Mexico are likely to complete the journey. The unclassified report was obtained and published by Newsweek on Thursday. If the military’s assessment is accurate, it would mean the United States is positioning five soldiers on the border for every one caravan member expected to arrive there.

“Based on historic trends, it is assessed that only a small percentage of the migrants will likely reach the border,” the report says. It was prepared by U.S. Army North, a component of U.S. Northern Command, which oversees the mission dubbed Operation Faithful Patriot.

View the complete November 2 article by Nick Miroff and Missy Ryan on the Washington Post website here.

Fact from fiction: What you should know about the migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. border

“There are only two forces driving them: hunger and death.”

Honduran migrants in a new caravan heading to the US with Honduran and Guatemalan national flags Credit:  Orlando Estrada, AFP via Getty Images

As many as 7,000 Central Americans are making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, and along with them are a wealth of misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding their motives and character.

While this isn’t the first migrant caravan to make its way to the U.S.-Mexico border under the Trump administration, it is the largest — and with midterm elections only two weeks away, this one has elicited the most strident response from Republicans and the White House, who are leaning on the caravan to stoke anti-immigrant fears in the minds of voters.

To clear the air, here’s what you should know about the caravan itself, and the people in it who have left everything behind in search of a better life.

View the complete October 23 article by Luke Barnes and Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress.org website here.