Trump says Mexico has 'the absolute power' to stop 'Caravans' of migrants — here's what he's missing

President Donald Trump inveighed against Mexico for what he perceived as a lack of effort to halt the flow of Central American migrants to the US.
But Trump's comments appeared to reflect a lack of knowledge about the factors driving the migration and Mexico's efforts to stanch it.
Some of the immigration policies Trump has pursued are also expected to worsen the problems causing migrants to leave their homes and head to the US.

President Donald Trump railed against Mexico over what he perceived as that country's inability or unwillingness to carry out immigration enforcement in a series of tweets that spanned from the weekend through Monday.

"Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the US," Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

"These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA," he added. "They want in on the act!"

For those from Honduras, the most proximate cause is violence and instability in the wake of President Juan Orlando Hernandez's reelection late last year, which many believe was fraudulent, although it was endorsed by the US. In the months since, violence, much of it by state-backed actors, against activists and journalists has been elevated. The group traveling through Mexico often chanted, "out with JOH!," according to BuzzFeed.

In Honduras, as well as neighboring El Salvador and Guatemala, economic weakness, political instability, and rampant violence are all motivating factors. Much of the violence comes from criminal groups like MS-13 that have their roots in US policies during the region's civil wars in the late 20th century, as well as US immigration policies in the 1990s and 2000s

Mexico has been a frequent target of Trump's fusillades against US allies and foes, and Trump has threatened to cut off US aid to its southern neighbor. Such cuts are generally seen as likely to worsen the border-security and immigration situations in Mexico, empowering criminal groups that have moved into the human-smuggling trade.

No one has mentioned DACA

Trump's efforts to crack down on immigration, including removing Temporary Protected Status for some Central Americans, are seen as likely to exacerbate the problems in those countries, leading more people to head north. (US border agents have said Trump's plans overlook the frontline of US border security: border checkpoints themselves.)

Trump's assertion that the migrants traveling north are hoping to take advantage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, is also off base, as that program only applied to immigrants who arrived as children prior to June 2012.

Trump in fact rescinded DACA in 2017, and his invocation of the program this week led some people to question whether he knew the details of it. Others noted the apparent gap between Trump's condemnations of Mexico and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's praise of Mexico's work with the US on numerous recent policies.

Adolfo Flores, the BuzzFeed reporter traveling with the caravan, said Sunday he asked some migrants about Trump's DACA comments.

"Some laughed and others said they thought (correctly) they wouldn't qualify," Flores said, adding, "I've spoken with dozens of people who cite violence, instability, and poverty as reasons for leaving. Not one has mentioned DACA."

Trump says Mexico has 'the absolute power' to stop 'Caravans' of migrants — here's what he's missing

No one has mentioned DACA

Enhance Your Pulse News Experience!

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!