October 21, 2018

Trump Warns of “Onslaught of Illegal Aliens” in Migrant Caravan

At least 5,000 Latin American migrants crossed the southern Mexico border on Sunday.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

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A caravan of Central American migrants swelled to more than 5,000 people as it reached Mexico’s southern border on Sunday, marching past Mexican police and immigration officials and towards the United States. In response, President Donald Trump tweeted a familiar call to “stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing” the US-Mexico border, adding that the courts “are asking the US to do things that are not doable!” 

At campaign rallies this week ahead of the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump capitalized on the caravan’s journey, which began in Honduras in mid-October, stoking concerns over immigration and calling for a stop to the march. At a Thursday rally in Montana, Trump threatened to “send the military to defend our southern border if necessary” and blamed Democrats for the “illegal immigration onslaught.” He has also threatened to pull foreign aid to Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador and to close the US border if Mexican officials don’t stop the caravan. 

At a rally in Arizona on Friday, Trump repeated a bogus claim that Democrats were behind the migration and that some “bad people” were part of the thousands of migrants heading to the border. He told supporters: “This country doesn’t want them.”

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