By now most Dopers are prolly aware that there’s a huge caravan of migrants coming through Mexico, making their way to the United States in hopes of finding a place where they can make a better life for themselves and their families.
The current president of the United States has blamed the opposition party for the caravan and has said he will call out the military to stop the people in the caravan from entering the country.
I’m not looking forward to the occurrence itself, but I admit to being curious about the US public response to video footage of an American soldier shooting an unarmed migrant who simply refused to stop walking forward.
Will Trump really roll out a military response to this caravan?
Will Americans care?
Will there be any effect at the ballot box due to the caravan?
What should be done?
What do you think will be done?
Wonder if there is any polling on this issue. One way or another, candidates will probably be forced to clarify a stance on the migrants - but it remains to be seen whether pro or anti would win more votes.
It appears that a caravan of illegal aliens have illegally entered Mexico’s southern border. Since this is the Elections forum, should I assume that they are illegally entering Mexico in order to illegally vote in Mexico’s elections at some future time?
You know these groups that travel together always start out big and by the time any of them get to the U.S. border it’s not some huge “caravan” but much fewer people. This is all just more trump-hype for his cult follows to parrot like hysterical toadies. It’s not a crisis. More people from Canada violate their visas in a week than number of this “caravan” that will actually present themselves at the border and ask for asylum.
And the notion that they’re coming here to vote? What kind of an idiot believes that?
Probably not, at least not like you’re envisioning. Perhaps some NG guys / MPs will help flex-cuff some illegal immigrants.
I suspect very few will.
If groups of unarmed, non-violent illegal immigrants actually start getting shot, the effect would be significant, but I doubt that will happen.
Arrest them and deport them back to Honduras. Build a wall to keep them out.
Some of them will get in. Some will be deported. There will be much whining from the right about the former and much whining from the left about the latter.
In the OP I explicitly quoted the President of the United States saying that he would deploy the military in order to prevent these people from entering the country. The POTUS is a politician; what he says is political news.
As this is taking place shortly before an election and Trump is campaigning for GOP candidates partly on a platform that places a heavy emphasis on immigration policy, news of this is likely to affect how people think and feel about that issue as they cast their votes, IMO.
I would have thought it was obvious that I started the thread because I’m interested a discussion of the situation, with particular focus on what Trump may or may not actually do in a couple of weeks when these folks make it to the US/Mexico border and how that may affect the political climate in the US.
If it becomes violent and the Internet overlords allow footage to get out and be dispersed, this could sway the election in favor of the Republicans. Latinos are not a monolithic group. This caravan has been identified an Honduran which may not sit favorably with those who identify as Mexican American.
There is no immigration crisis — don’t believe Trump’s pre-election rhetoric. Attempted and actual migration to the US is at a low point (it peaked 18 years ago). Central Americans fleeing gang violence and poverty are more likely now to move in groups (into Mexico, and the some of them into the US), to avoid being raped, robbed, and abused along the way, so they may be more “visible,” but the overall rate is steady.
This is the last thing we need, to give US racists more motivation to get out and vote Republican in two weeks. It’s prompting the usual moronic calls to build a wall. Let’s see now- the migrants have a right under international law to come to a border crossing and apply for asylum. Exactly how would a wall deter that? You just can’t argue with those who are unwilling or unable to comprehend simple facts.
I should mention that I lived and worked in Mexico, just a few kilometers from its southern border with Guatemala, on and off for eight years. Not that this should necessarily give me extra credibility on the current situation, but I thought It was worth mentioning.