Free Republic

Last week, a caravan of 1,800 Central American migrants arrived in this isolated Mexican border city, where police ushered them into a makeshift government shelter surrounded by chain-link fence. As conditions at the shelter deteriorated, riots erupted. Migrants broke through security barriers and struggled with guards. Some threw pipes, tables, chairs and parts of a tent at Mexican officers. Migrant advocates and reporters were barred from the facility, which was surrounded by dozens of federal police in riot gear. On the other side of the Rio Grande, in the sleepy town of Eagle Pass, Texas, 250 troops and scores of...

At least 25 gang members affiliated with the MS-13 gang were deported from Mexico after they were revealed to be concealed within the caravan of 1,600 Central American migrants just across the U.S. border, immigration officials said Tuesday. The caravan first arrived in Piedras Negras, Mexico, two weeks ago across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas when officials from the Instituto Nacional de Migración identified 10 gang members from Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.

Pushed beyond their limits by prolonged waits in dangerous and squalid conditions in parts of Northern Mexico, thousands of caravan members who had been waiting to seek asylum in the United States appear to have given up, Mexican officials said, dealing President Trump an apparent win after a humbling week for his immigration agenda. About 6,000 asylum seekers who had traveled en masse, many of them in defiance of Mr. Trump’s demands that they turn around, arrived in Northern Mexico in late November as part of a caravan that originated in Honduras. Since then, more than 1,000 have accepted an...

Democrats are calling President Trump every name in the book and threatening multiple lawsuits to overturn his Friday declaration of a national emergency on our southern border. The president is using the declaration to enable him to shift funds already in the federal budget to border security. The shifting of money from one set of priorities to the more urgent priority of border security will allow the president to spend over $8.1 billion to build barriers along part of our border with Mexico and fund other border security measures. But listen to the angry denunciations of the president by outraged...

. . . The ex-legislator debunked the charges after Fox News asked him about remarks by a Guatemalan government official speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday who named Fuentes as being the pivotal character in the organization of the tens of thousands of Central Americans and Mexicans who have joined the caravans. Mario Duarte, Guatemala’s head of intelligence, called Fuentes a key coordinator of the caravan, according to published reports. It was the most recent public accusation of Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker, of being an organizer of the caravans.

Five million Latin Americans plan to migrate to the United States in the next 12 months, and an estimated 42 million more say they want to enter the country. Those statistics were in a report from Jim Clifton, the chairman and CEO at Gallup: Forty-two million seekers of citizenship or asylum are watching to determine exactly when and how is the best time to make the move. This suggests that open borders could potentially attract 42 million Latin Americans. A full 5 million who are planning to move in the next 12 months say they are moving to the U.S....

Mayor of Mexico border city dubbed 'Tijuana Trump' blasts caravan migrants, calls them 'bums' and 'pot smokers' Several weeks ago a Mexican federal judge ordered Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum to stop being hostile to migrants on the caravan that started in Honduras. The ruling bans Tijuana officials from “issuing statements contrary to the protection of and respect for migrant people." Gastelum, a 65-year-old attorney, is not listening. Called “Tijuana Trump,” Gastelum repeatedly has expressed his objections to the caravan and called for its organizers to be identified and prosecuted for taking advantage of desperate people and putting their lives...

Health officials on Saturday confirmed seven mumps cases at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Houston. The Houston Health Department said in a press release that the cases involved seven adults who were detained during their infectious period -- meaning there was no evidence that anyone outside the facility was infected. “Since these individuals were isolated inside the facility during the period they were infectious, we do not anticipate these cases posing a threat to the community,” said Dr. David Persse, Houston’s local health authority and EMS medical director. Health officials are working with the ICE facility...

SALTILLO, Mexico -- More than 2,000 migrants boarded dozens of buses provided by the Mexican State of Coahuila en route to the border city of Piedras Negras, where a shelter with federal resources awaits them. The caravan will arrive at the border on Monday, a day ahead of President Trump’s State of the Union speech – and on the heels of the Pentagon’s announcement that nearly 4,000 troops will be deployed to the region in the coming weeks. (snip) ...Health officials here confirm that there are many respiratory infections, gastrointestinal conditions, five cases of chicken pox, one individual with HIV...

Back in April, the Department of Justice sought to prevent illegal border crossing with a “zero tolerance” policy that involved a large expansion of criminal prosecutions. By June, holding facilities in Texas were packed, and pictures of crying children separated from parents hijacked any rational explanations, forcing President Trump to put the policy on hold. The move stopped the media feeding frenzy, but didn’t plug the porous border. Now the frenzy is back, this time over dead children. A few weeks ago, an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died in custody, the second child from that country to die on the American...

The U.S. government is tracking three separate migrant caravans, one of them estimated to be more than 12,000 people in size, heading north toward the U.S., a top Pentagon official said Tuesday. Defense Undersecretary for Policy John Rood told Congress that those caravans are one reason why the presence of active-duty troops is still needed on the U.S.-Mexico border. He also said military medical personnel are helping with the latest border problem, dealing with an increase in sick migrants showing up at the border and in need of immediate attention. Some 2,300 active-duty troops are still on the border, down...

The ranks of a new Central American migrant caravan reportedly grew in size to more than 12,000 as of Friday. The caravan is now heading to Mexico’s southern border. Mexican immigration officials in the city of Ciudad Hidalgo, which borders Guatemala, are establishing procedures to expedite the process in which to approve one-year humanitarian visas for members of the Central American migrant caravan who are arriving daily. The one-year humanitarian visas, promised by Mexico’s new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is a newly adopted policy which allows migrants to legally travel and work during their stay in Mexico. The new...

The path to McAllen is approximately 1,300 miles long; whereas the path to San Diego is approximately 2,700 miles long. So the caravan travelled more than twice as far as it needed to. Why in the world would they do that? They didn’t have their own vehicles, and they weren’t carrying enough food or resources to justify the longer journey. There are two reasons. The first reason can be summed up in two words: Ninth Circuit. The caravan members have been advised by liberal immigration attorneys all along. Not only were the migrants coached on what to say when claiming...

On a forlorn beach, a long line of riderless horses shuffled along, their wrangler unable to spot a single sightseer who might want to hop on. The vendors selling fruit and candy, or touting massages and tattoos, had relinquished their efforts to find customers and instead sprawled on the sand. Inside the landmark Rosarito Beach Hotel, only the backdrop sound of the ocean waves interrupted the silence. The tourist town of Rosarito, Mexico, usually bustling with throngs of young Americans partying at crowded dance clubs, was desolate. While winter is not peak season, residents say business has never been this...

A migrant caravan trying to reach the U.S. is expected to grow as thousands gather at Mexico's southern border awaiting entry. Last week, Mexico decided to fast-track humanitarian visas so migrants can enter legally and nearly 8,000 people have applied. So far, more than 500 visas have been issued. Thousands of migrants are gathered on both sides of Mexico-Guatemala border because of the five-day waiting period to get visas. Now, those who had originally entered Mexico illegally are trying to backtrack to the border, so they too can get visas, reports CBS News' Adriana Diaz. As the buses arrived in...

As a new caravan that began in Honduras and quickly swelled to an estimated 2,000 people made its way toward Mexico on Tuesday, Mexicans who live along the border towns that will likely be most affected took to the Internet to lash out against another wave of migrants. “Work? Yes, there might be work for people who actually want to work, not for the lazy bums looking for entitlements,” said one commenter. “People of Honduras, all of you who are spinning these grand illusions and getting ready to come on this caravan, please inform yourself about how people who’ve already...

Last week we discussed the news that another large group of people in Honduras clearly hadn’t received the memo and were forming up yet another caravan to head to the United States. Despite efforts by both Mexico and the United States to find some other alternative for them, a group of more than 500 Hondurans packed up their things and set out in short order. As of last night, they had already crossed the border into Guatemala, presenting themselves in a reportedly orderly fashion. (Associated Press) The latest caravan of Honduran migrants hoping to reach the U.S. has crossed...

The optics for the latest caravan don't get much worse than this: Honduran border police arrested a 26-year-old fugitive they said was leading it and hauled him off to prison to serve the 15-year prison term that came of his 2015 conviction.  Caravan leader Juan Carlos Molina's crime? Raping a younger-than-12-year-old, his own little cousin, sneaking into her home as she awaited her mother's return from a late-working job with the door to her home ajar to let her back in, according to the Honduras's Diario La Tribuna. If she had to leave the door open, it's quite likely it's because she had to go to sleep,...

A new caravan of Honduran migrants has set out toward the U.S., prompting President Trump to press his case that a border wall is the only way to stop illegal immigration. A group of about 500 migrants, including families, set out from a bus station in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula late Monday, according to video images on local media and Karla Rivas, an official with ERIC, a local Jesuit organization that monitors migration. Another group of some 600 migrants set out early Tuesday, Ms. Rivas said, adding that they appear to have plans to merge. *** Part...

President Trump is working around the clock during the government shutdown trying to negotiate with Pelosi and Schumer to secure border wall funding. The Democrats however, are partying at a beach resort in Puerto Rico on day 22 of the government shutdown. The Democrats don’t care about the 800,000 federal workers who are currently not receiving a paycheck. Democrat Senator Bob Menendez was spotted hanging out with a bikini-clad “colleague” on the beach in Puerto Rico three weeks into the shutdown without a care in the world. The Hispanic Caucus of liberal Democrats is holding their retreat at a posh...