Mainstream media joins the Honduran ‘caravan’

ANALYSIS

The countdown is on for the arrival of what has come to be known as the “Honduran caravan” — an estimated 4,000 men, women, children and infants who left the troubled Honduran city of Pedro Sula last weekend on foot and by truck. Saturday will mark a week on the march for the throng of hopefuls who plan to assemble on the U.S.-Mexico border and demand entry.

The caravan itself has become a complex political symbol that some observers say is yet another ploy by rival Democrats and a hostile news media to portray the president in a negative light as the midterm elections approach.

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That media now has its own caravan. Coverage is intense, plentiful and dramatic.

“Republicans are fear-mongering about a migrant caravan to boost midterm turnout” said a Salon headline, while CNN noted, “Mother in caravan: Trump has to receive us.” Vox declared that “Trump’s ‘caravan’ tantrum could put migrants in danger.”

But President Trump is having none of it.

“I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S,” an emphatic Mr. Trump tweeted, even as news coverage went global.

“In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught — and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” the president noted in follow-up tweet, which was isolated and quoted by many news organizations as a blockbuster headline.

“Americans are compassionate people, and we empathize with all those who suffer and respect the desire of millions to become Americans. Tolerating illegality is not real compassion, not for our own American citizens and not for illegal immigrants who are often abused by the inherent criminality of porous borders,” Steve Cortes, president of the Trump Hispanic Advisory Council and a campaign adviser, tells The Washington Times.

“Walls work,” he adds. “The examples are many globally, but the best model is Israel where a serious, high-tech border barricade on its southern border with Egypt and Gaza cut illegal crossings by 99 percent over five years.”