Are you tired of hearing about this migrant caravan?
I am too.
I'm also tired of the mainstream media using disadvantaged people to push a narrative that divides our country.
I'm also growing relentlessly tired of politicians who also don't care about these people nor are responsible for people of other countries trying to use the situation against Donald Trump and using it also to make those of us who want legal immigration to be a normal part of the institution of our country feel like racist bigots and xenophobes.
Welcome back to Slightly Offensive with your favorite gay black woman, me, Elijah Schaefer.
We're here today debunking 10 myths that the mainstream media is saying about the migrant caravan.
The first myth is that this caravan just formed organically.
The truth is that Vox.com, which is actually a liberal-leaning website, so you would expect them to be in favor of this migrant caravan, made an article that stated that the earliest spokesperson for this campaign was a former leftist legislator named Bartolo Fuentes.
Now, that's not only a big deal, but his wife is a human rights activist that falls largely under the left wing.
Her name is Dunya Mantoya.
Now, the conservative government of Honduras, President Juan Orlando Hernandez, with the help of friendly media outlets, has accused Fuentes of organizing the caravan to embarrass the Hernandez administration and promote instability.
I can tell you that from the very beginning, leftist legislators and human rights activists did take control and possibly even advantage of the caravan and used it for political gain.
Now, I'm not here to say that the right-wing president of Honduras is reliable just because he's right-wing or perhaps that he's even honest.
But I do want to point out that while we look at the poor children who are in this caravan as desperate and needing help, we have to remember that in order to get to the United States, you're going to need a lot of resources and help for logistics.
And as we can see from the very beginning, this one has proven false as legislators and human rights activists jumped in to lead the game from the very beginning.
The second myth that we want to debunk is that all of these people in the caravan are asylum seekers.
Now, I want to point us to an article by the BBC that says specifically, what do the migrants want?
Now, when they interviewed the migrants, some of them said that they're leaving their respective homes in hope of building a better future for themselves and their families.
And while, of course, the idea of economic freedom, a better education, or even quality of life is admirable and noble, and I believe any family should have the right to seek that.
To falsely paint the narrative in the media that all of these people are asylum seekers when the media asks them directly what they're seeking and a lot of them don't say that they're seeking asylum is very dishonest and absolutely borders on untruth.
The next myth is that these are peaceful people who do not need to be vetted and it's our responsibility to absorb this caravan into the United States out of our goodwill towards the rest of the world.
Now the problem with this statement is that you never want to allow people into your own home without knowing who they are.
Because of course if someone enters your home without permission, that would be considered an invasion.
PolitiFact stated a study by the Department of Homeland Security on November 1st on a myth versus fact statement that said over 270 individuals along the caravan route have criminal histories including known gang membership.
I don't want to spread fear and make it seem like these people are all bad.
I know there's a lot of good people in the caravan and I don't think we should unjustly just separate everyone as being a violent criminal.
But the fact that there are bad people inside the caravan should make us want to vet them.
To further make a point, one myth that I keep hearing is that these are healthy individuals seeking asylum.
Yeah, healthy.
However, while there have been some inaccurate reports, I would like to debunk this myth by saying that there was a report from the Associated Press that said warnings grow over unsanitary conditions in Tijuana shelters.
Now, this study confirmed that over one-third of the migrants were being treated for health-related reasons.
Now, obviously, these are not all serious conditions, as living in squalor camps and migrant tents could lead someone to like bacterial infections or different types of things like influenza or the common cold.
The reality is that a third of them had communicable diseases of some sort, and there were even three confirmed cases of tuberculosis.
On top of that, there were four cases of HIV and AIDS.
This sounds like my neighborhood in Hollywood, but the reality is, is that I don't want what goes on here in Hollywood to reach the rest of the country.
And I understand that disease isn't an indicator that you're a bad person.
But what it does show is that we have to realize there are a lot of factors in play before we just let people into our country.
The next myth that I want to debunk is the idea that all of these people are just trying to enter the country legally.
Now, as you probably already know, CNN released an article and a video showing that there were dozens arrested trying to enter the country illegally already.
Which brings up the point.
If you're trying to do things the right way and be a contributing member of society, why are you trying to jump over the front door?
I mean, the very first standard of trying to be a contributing member of society is just try not to break the law.
But if you're already trying to enter illegally to be a part of the society, that's a sign that it might not work out that well.
Next on our list is the famous situation where, of course, Donald Trump and his terrible ICE and border patrol agents tear gassed children and mothers at the border, essentially committing, as Refuse Fascism LA said, an attempted genocide.
I'm not even joking.
This is a protest group here in LA talks about what Trump is doing at the border as an attempted genocide and says that he puts kids in concentration camps, but we won't hit on that.
Now, the reality is, is CNN debunked this idea a long time ago when they released an article saying that U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that migrants threw projectiles that struck several agents.
Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents, the agency said on Twitter.
Now, you know, the idea that these agents just had nothing better to do, that they saw children and babies and then tear gassed them is absurd.
And we see here that the agents felt threatened.
They were being hit by rocks.
And of course, I don't even want to get into that.
If there's people throwing rocks, why do we want these people in our country?
I don't know.
In conjunction with this, the next myth is that, well, Trump hates immigrants.
That's why he allows the agents at the border to tear gas the poor women and children.
But the reality is, is there's one article from Washington Times that states that, shocker, Obama used tear gas more than once a month at the border.
Now, I don't think Obama was down there, you know, with Michelle Obama rocketing out some, you know, cans of gassy spicy boys to, you know, the women and children.
But what I'm saying is that under his administration, you know, young women and children in different types of groups of men and whatnot obviously experienced tear gas, but you didn't hear about that.
As a first step, I'm directing the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to move available and appropriate resources from our interior to the border.
Protecting public safety and deporting dangerous criminals has been and will remain the top priority, but we are going to refocus our efforts where we can to make sure we do what it takes to keep our border secure.
And of course, this is the first situation I've even heard where Trump's administration used tear gas.
I'm sure it wasn't the first.
But this is the hypocrisy.
Trump's not a racist.
He's just trying to allow his administration and the people that serve under the federal branch to enforce the law.
On our list next is the myth that Trump is just wasting money, sending national guards and militarizing the border.
Now, again, this might be true as I'm not into big government spending and I don't believe that we should aimlessly just spend money for political gain.
However, when I look at the trends of things, both Obama and Bush Jr. sent National Guard to the border.
There's an article by USA Today that says that in 2006 and 2010 combined under the two administrations, they spent approximately $1.3 billion of federal money. militarizing the border.
Now, of course, when Trump does it, he's wasteful.
When Obama does it, he's smart.
And of course, I don't know what was said about Bush, but I'm sure it wasn't too great.
So we see, does the media really care about money?
Do they really care about our troops?
Or do they really care about just finding another reason to complain?
I say that this myth has been busted.
The most famous myth on our case is that Trump keeps calling this an invasion.
It's not an invasion.
No one's invading our country.
I love how Jim Acosta, CNN, famously said, oh, you know, this is not an invasion.
They're not going to be jumping over walls.
As we already mentioned, they were.
But the reality is, is that the New York Times released an article that said 500 people rushed the border and tried to enter illegally.
500.
Now, I don't know about you, but if 500 people rushed for my door, not only would I be frightened and that they would meet the barrel of a very scary friend of mine, but if you try to enter a country and you rush in a giant horde, that constitutes an invasion.
And I want to say the myth that if that's not an invasion, then I don't even know what is.
The last myth on our list is that the U.S. needs to absorb these people because they have nowhere else to go.
Nowhere.
That's not true.
The UN actually said that they would help people to get home.
That's according to the UN.org.
They would help people to find other countries, including actually already a thousand requests for asylum that have been granted in Mexico itself.
Look, the people of Tijuana don't want these people.
The people of the United States don't necessarily want these people.
It's not because we hate them.
It's not because they're bad.
It's not because we don't like them.
It's because there are already a lot of people waiting to do things legally.
Now, if anyone in this caravan is trying to get asylum, that's fair.
Go ahead and apply.
Do your best and try to get in.
But if you're coming for other reasons, while I totally sympathize with your plight, this isn't the way to do it.
You have to follow the law and the rules.
I have friends, I have family who've had to do so, and I have friends and family who are still trying to do so.
So I'm not detached from this situation.
But I will tell you, there's a lot involved and a lot of money and a lot of work, and it's not fair for you to trump me or anyone else just because you complain and say you want it very badly.
I'm Elijah Schaefer.
This has been another episode of Slightly Offensive.
