Migrant Caravan Refuses Mexican Offer of Refugee Status
Migrant Caravan Refuses Mexican Offer of Refugee Status and insist on making their way to the US. This will present an issue for democrats entering the mid term as Trump has rallied around the idea of border security and the wall in response to thousands of migrants making their way to the US border.The latest news is that a section of "the wall" is completed near Calexico and a debate rages as to whether or not its a wall or a fence. But semantics aside a barrier is being constructed and we are entering a heated debate about immigration in this country.
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The migrant caravan from Honduras is growing and slowly making its way to the United States.
It is not likely they're going to make it here before the midterm elections, but many people are still talking about it and they're wondering, if there's such violence in Honduras, why don't they stay in Guatemala?
Why don't they stay in Mexico?
In a previous video, I covered that Mexico had actually received applications for asylum from many of these people, so some of them actually do want to stay.
But as the caravan grows larger, people wonder why not stay in Mexico, where they already are.
In fact, Mexico has offered benefits and status to many of the people who are traveling through Mexico so long as they follow its laws, but it's no surprise many of them have rejected the offer.
CBS News is reporting that they've actually rejected it and want to go to the U.S.
instead.
At the same time, we're seeing that a section of Trump's border wall has been completed.
Only now there's a debate over whether or not it's a fence or a wall, and why it's actually segmented, and we'll talk about that.
So we've got a couple stories to go through, kind of intersecting.
The migrant caravan, why they're rejecting Mexico's offer, and what's going on with Trump's wall.
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From CBS News, migrant caravan members reject offer to stay in Mexico.
Quote, no, we're heading north.
Ariaga, Mexico.
Several thousand Central American migrants turned down a Mexican offer of benefits if they applied for refugee status and stayed in the country's two southernmost states, vowing to set out before dawn Saturday to continue their long trek toward the U.S.
border.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced what he called the quote, you are home plan.
Offering shelter, medical attention, schooling, and jobs to Central Americans in Chiapas and Oaxaca states if they applied, calling it a first step toward permanent refugee status.
Authorities said more than 1,700 had already applied for refugee status.
But after one of the caravan's longest days of walking and hanging from passing trucks, the bulk of the migrants were boisterous Friday evening in their refusal to accept anything less than safe passage to the U.S.
border.
Thank you, they yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands in the town of Arriaga.
They then added, no, we're heading north.
58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro Sula, Honduras said, Our goal is not to remain in Mexico.
Our goal is to make it to the US.
We want passage, that's all.
The migrant caravan is still over 1,000 miles away from the nearest border, which would be McAllen, Texas.
If they go to Tijuana, however, it could take even longer for them to get here.
Earlier this year, we saw a migrant caravan actually go to Tijuana.
Now, obviously, these people have the opportunity to stay in Mexico.
They don't want to do it, and Donald Trump has expressed his opinion on Twitter.
He tweeted a message to the migrants Thursday, quote, go back to your country and if you want, apply for
citizenship like millions of others are doing.
They say if the group reaches the border, they are likely to encounter one of two outcomes,
sluggish bureaucracy or hardline enforcement.
On Friday, the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops the southern border,
likely to total several hundred, to help the U.S.
Border Patrol as Mr. Trump seeks to transform concerns about immigration and the caravan into electoral gains in the November 6 midterms.
There's a lot of parts of this story that play up Trump using rhetoric to get Republicans elected.
And I think, well, that's probably true.
Obviously Trump knows this is a huge edge for the Republicans because immigration is a losing issue for Democrats.
To imply that troops are being sent to the border, or that Trump's only saying this to bolster his approval and Republican approval, I think it's a little opinionated.
This is supposed to be a factual news story.
Asserting that is not facts.
They're giving you their opinion on why Trump is doing it.
I think it's a fair opinion, but I do think, look, Trump is probably sending troops to the southern border to secure the southern border, and he's probably talking about this because he does care about it.
Will it help the Republicans in the election?
Probably yes.
Does Trump know that?
Probably yes.
But to imply that he's only doing it for the election, I think, is a bit unfair.
A section of the border wall has been completed, and now there's debate over whether or not it's a wall, whether or not walls work.
So let's take a look at what's going on with the border wall, because maybe this might actually serve as increased security if the migrant caravan actually makes it to Tijuana.
From NBC News, DHS chief marks first section of Trump's border wall.
But it kinda looks like a fence.
At an event in Southern California, Kirsten Nielsen put up a plaque with the president's name.
So I think it's important you get a look at what they've built, right?
So this is near Calexico, California.
It's a bit far away from San Diego and Tijuana, but the migrant caravan may come to this area, in which case, this might actually serve as a deterrent for people who try entering the country illegally.
Though, it is said the caravan seeks asylum status, and they're actually gonna file legally.
But you can see here that many people are saying it's not a wall.
You can see it's segmented, there's gaps.
They're calling it a fence.
And so let's talk about that.
It's different than a fence in that it also has technology.
It's a full wall system.
She said in Calexico, California, when asked about whether the 30 foot tall barrier made of steel bollards was actually just a fence.
It's a wall.
This is what the president has asked us to do.
It's part of a system.
The story says Trump campaigned on a promise to build a big, beautiful wall, which he specifically said would not be a fence.
The president built a slew of concrete border wall prototypes last year, but since taking office, his administration has replaced older fencing with newer, taller fencing and claimed the president's promise is being kept.
Now, the interesting thing is, they do have a citation.
It's not always a requirement for stories.
Unfortunately, the citation just...
Doesn't go anywhere.
When you click it, it's just a 404 error.
So, I do believe Trump likely said it wouldn't be a fence, and so there is some debate here, but let's talk about what a fence is, what a wall is, and does it even really matter.
Look, I'm gonna play the semantics game for all of you.
A wall is defined as a continuous vertical brick or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land.
They say it could also be any high vertical surface or facade, especially one that is imposing in scale.
So, theoretically, I mean by definition, you could call it a wall.
But many people use the first definition, a continuous vertical brick or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land.
Is what they built a wall?
Look, it's a semantic argument.
The definition does fit, but a lot of people are imagining these prototypes of big concrete 30-foot walls.
But there's some obvious reasons why that wouldn't happen.
And I'll talk about why I don't think it matters in the first place.
Obviously, you're going to see a lot of people in media and people on the left criticizing Trump, saying, see, he's not fulfilling his promise.
He built the fence, not a wall.
However, when Trump was talking about building a wall, in my opinion, he's kind of speaking off the cuff.
And a lot of people, I believe, don't actually care what it is.
They just want border security.
They want improved border security, and they're getting it.
They're gonna be happy with Trump building a 30-foot high fence and calling it a wall.
They don't care.
But here's the thing.
I believe there's a reason why it's not going to be a large concrete wall.
That's probably not the most effective thing to do.
The reason why it's segmented and looks like a fence is that Border Patrol needs to be able to see through it.
They need to be able to keep people out but also be able to see people on the other side so they know where to go.
A wall just isn't practical for a lot of reasons because Border Patrol wouldn't be able to see if there's people on the other side to know where to stop them if they tried getting over.
What likely happened, I don't know if this is true but it's my opinion, is that once they got to talking about building the actual wall, Trump probably insisted on a wall, But was probably informed by experts and border patrol that a fence probably makes more sense in terms of cost and in terms of security.
It's probably easy to scale a wall.
You could throw a rope over it.
But a fence like this might actually be a lot harder and it allows border security to actually see through it.
So it makes sense.
It's cheaper and it's probably more effective.
But now you're seeing this media battle.
Over whether or not a wall makes sense in the first place, they're saying it's not a wall, Kristen Nielsen is saying of course it's a wall, it's part of a system, and it's just so silly.
None of it matters.
But of course they want to maintain the battle over rhetoric, and hey, I'll say this, debating whether or not it's a wall or a fence is nothing but good for Trump.
Every time there is a non-issue in the press, it distracts the press and Trump's critics from other issues.
I assure you, Trump would love to argue about the definition of a wall than actually deal with issues like the ramifications of tax cuts and the declining economy over the past week.
They're giving Trump what he wants when they debate a fence or a wall.
Look, if you ask me, I think Trump knows exactly what he's doing with These kind of media stories.
He knows exactly what he's doing in getting the media to stay distracted and off base.
The Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas thing was so perfect for Trump and the Republicans because it keeps the Democrats off message.
And this is what we keep seeing.
But then the question arises, do walls actually work?
Does it matter in the first place?
And look, I'm going to tell you straight up, the answer is yes.
I've done many videos about this, but we'll look at an op-ed here from USA Today.
Homeland Security Secretary Border walls work, Yuma Sector proves it, and this is from August last year.
They say for years, Yuma Sector was besieged by chaos as a nearly unending flood of migrants and drugs poured across our border.
Even as agents were arresting on average 800 illegal aliens a day, we were still unable to stop the thousands of trucks filled with drugs and humans that quickly crossed a vanishing point and dispersed into communities all across the country.
It's hard for anyone familiar with Yuma Sector today to imagine this scene.
That's because nearly a decade ago, a group of bipartisan lawmakers came together to protect the homeland, save innocent lives, and build a physical barrier across the border.
They say although there is still more work to do, the border in Yuma Sector today is more secure because of this investment.
Even under lax enforcement standards, apprehensions in fiscal year 2016 were roughly a tenth of what they were in fiscal year 2005, and are on track to be even lower this year.
Crime has significantly decreased in the Yuma area, and smugglers now look for other, less difficult areas of the border to cross, often areas without fencing.
I've made several videos talking about this.
Will the border wall stop all illegal immigration and smuggling and trafficking?
No, of course not.
A lot of the illegal immigrants coming in this country fly in and then overstay their visas.
That's a fact.
It's almost half, I believe, who actually do this.
However, it'd be silly to believe that a wall wouldn't impede people on the ground.
It will.
Will it reduce all trafficking, migration?
No, no, no, no.
But it will reduce some.
Is it cost-effective?
That's another debate.
Is it something we should be focusing on?
That's an entirely other debate.
But with the migrant caravan making its way to the U.S., you've got these two debates.
Trump saying, you can't enter this country, go back and apply legally.
And the left saying, they have a legal right to apply for asylum at our border.
Which is why they'll likely come to a legal border crossing and then slowly apply.
But this is still going to leave us with a humanitarian crisis because you can't have thousands of people sitting outside in front of an office trying to apply for asylum.
They won't be able to process them fast enough.
It would probably make way more sense for these people to stay in Mexico.
But look, in the past video I covered on this, we saw quotes from some of these migrants saying they missed Buffalo Wild Wings.
They wanted their Playstations.
Are some of them fleeing violence?
Of course they are.
Are some of them fleeing economic hardship?
Absolutely.
Should we grant asylum to people who are simply looking for buffalo wild wings and a better job?
Or should we tell them, listen, if Mexico is making you an offer, you should take it.
For those that are fleeing violence, maybe we should offer them asylum.
It's not up to me.
Look, I don't know what the answers are.
I do know that we have to have some kind of order and some kind of control to make sure that everyone benefits.
And it's something I say in every video I do about immigration.
Controlled immigration guarantees the best outcome for the U.S.
and for the immigrants coming to this country.
Having them just pour in isn't going to help anybody.
It's actually going to make things worse for everybody, for the migrants and for our country.
So how we deal with this migrant caravan is going to be a serious issue.
And I don't think it's a perfect opportunity for the Republicans because even after the midterms, they're going to have to deal with this humanitarian crisis plain and simple.
Trump is building a border barrier.
Should we call it a fence?
Should we call it a wall?
It doesn't matter.
Because they do have a legal right to apply for asylum.
Most of them, maybe many of them, will get turned away.
Trump is building a border barrier.
Should we call it a fence?
Should we call it a wall?
It doesn't matter.
To the people who don't like Trump, you probably just don't understand that, the old saying
was that, people who support Trump take him seriously, but not literally.
And the people who don't like him take him literally, but not seriously.
So when Trump says build a wall, he's just saying border security.
It's a way of condensing an idea into something simple, and then people call for it.
Is Trump actually trying to build a literal wall?
Yeah, he actually is.
But it seems like once you actually look at what Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have to say, offense literally makes more sense for practical reasons.
Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments below.
We'll keep the conversation going.
How do you feel about the border wall?
How do you feel about the migrant caravan?
They're rejecting an offer from Mexico.
I think this is going to leave a sour taste in the mouths of many conservatives who are seeing that these people have an actual opportunity for a safe life in Mexico, but are rejecting it because they want to come here.
If you have an offer, I mean, I can imagine a lot of people would assume they'd take it.
So anyway, comment.
We'll keep the conversation going.
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