- The second caravan making their way up through Central America have members armed with explosives
- Had gasoline bombs made of soft-drink bottles, and improvised PVC tubes to launch fireworks
- Mexican federal police briefly blocked the migrants from crossing the Suchiate River on Monday
- But the migrants soon defied the law enforcement presence and broke through into Mexico
- Many tried to swim or wade across to Mexico, some while carrying children
- Law enforcement avoided a second day of violence, a day after a confrontation left one migrant dead
The second migrant caravan, believed to be armed with bombs and guns, crossed into Mexico on Monday despite a huge police presence.
Hundreds of migrants following in the footsteps of the first caravan heading to the U.S. border crossed a river from Guatemala.
A low-flying police helicopter hovered overhead as the migrants waded in large groups through the Suchiate River's murky waters, apparently trying to use the downdraft from its rotors to discourage them.
Guatemala's Noti7 channel reported that one man drowned and aired video of a man dragging a seemingly lifeless body from the river.
Once on the Mexican side the migrants were surrounded and escorted by black-uniformed officers as sirens wailed.
The second group back at the Guatemalan frontier has been more unruly than the first that crossed. Guatemala's Interior Ministry said Guatemalan police officers were injured when the migrant group broke through border barriers on Guatemala's side of the bridge.
Mexico authorities said migrants attacked its agents with rocks, glass bottles and fireworks when they broke through a gate on the Mexican end but were pushed back, and some allegedly carried guns and firebombs.
On Monday, Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida lamented what he called a second 'violent attempt' to storm the border, accusing people of placing the elderly, pregnant women and children at the front, putting them at risk of being crushed.
'Fortunately, that did not happen,' he said.
While catching rides from passing trucks was a largely impromptu affair in the first week of the caravan, it has now become more organized. On Monday, more than 100 migrants lined up at a gas station parking lot to wait for rides.
Mayor Ramiro Nolasco of the town of Zanatepec said locals had organized a bus and several trucks to carry migrants, mainly women and children.
'We are helping our brothers from other countries with food, water, and transportation,' Nolasco said. 'It is going to be very little, compared to what they need.'
At a checkpoint near the town, some migrants gathered to ask for help returning home to Honduras, the origin of the great majority of those in the caravan. Exhausted from many days on the road, and disheartened by the many miles yet to go and misbehavior by some fellow travelers, people have been dropping out from the caravan, which at its peak was estimated at more than 7,000.
The generosity shown by small towns and residents when the migrants first began trekking through southern Mexico has also lessened. At the last stop, few people came out to offer food, clothes and other items, said Hasiel Isamar Hernandez, a 28-year-old Honduran mother of three who has been with the caravan since it started in her hometown of San Pedro Sula.
The Pentagon is dispatching 5,200 active military troops to 'harden' the southern border and comply with President Donald Trump's order to deter an immigrant caravan the president called an 'invasion', it said Monday.
Eight hundred troops were already en route Monday – a force the Defense Department is dramatically increasing by adding helicopter companies and engineers who are bringing 'heavy equipment.'
In total DOD is sending 5,200 troops to 'harden' the border, the Pentagon said at a briefing Monday.
US riot police officers take part in a border security drill at the US-Mexico international bridge, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on October 29, 2018. The Pentagon is sending 5,200 troops to the southern border
Caravan on its way: Honduran migrants taking part in the caravan heading to the U.S. resume their march from San Pedro Tapanatepec to Santiago Niltepec, Oaxaca State, more than 1,000 miles from the border
'We'll reinforce along priority points of entry so as to enhance [Border Patrol]’s ability to harden and secure the border,” said Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy Monday.
The forces are 'just the start' of the operation,' he said.
The 800 troops en route are in addition to the more than 2,000 members of the National Guard already providing assistance at the border now. Officials say the troops will provide "mission enhancing capabilities" and will be armed.
'We are bringing three helicopter companies in. They are enhanced with optics and censors that will allow them to operate at night and provide assistance to bring our [border patrol] personnel exactly where they need to be regardless of the conditions,' he said.
The Pentagon says the added forces will be able to 'spot, identify groups and rapidly deploy' personnel as need.
'The helicopters will ensure the agents can arrive in the most austere locations and fast-rope down and conduct and work the law enforcement activities,' said Gen. O'Shaughnessy.
Asked if the troops were a 'political move' just days before an election as the size of the caravan has receded, he responded: 'We have to be prepared for I the potential arrival of a very large group.'
Troops will come from Fort Bragg, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Fort Stewart, Fort Campbell, Fort Riley and Fort Knox, Fox News reported.
The armed troops won't take part in law enforcement activities in keeping with the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits it.
'We will not allow a large group to enter the United States in an unsafe and unlawful manner,' said Kevin K. McAleenan, head of Customs and Border Protection.
Speaking of the arsenal being brought to assist border agents, guard forces, and troops, McAleenan said: 'These agents will be augmented and supported by over two dozen CBP air assets for surveillance and mobile response, including four Blackhawks and six additional helicopters as well as multiple fixed wing assets and unmanned aerial systems.'
He said the agency would potentially pull a 'few hundred' forces from the northern border since there is no caravan there.
The dramatic dispatch of U.S. forces to the border comes just days before the off-year elections, with Democratic critics arguing Trump is using the perceived threat of the caravan to motivate his political base.
According to the Pentagon forces will first build up in southern Texas and Arizona, then California.
Priority will go to 'harden' points of entry.
The engineering battalions have expertise in 'building temporary vehicle barriers, fencing and are bringing in heavy equipment,' according to the Pentagon.
President Donald Trump issued yet another dire warning about the 'invasion' posed by the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico, as it was revealed that the Pentagon is upping its troop levels far above the initial 800 announced.
TheWall Street Journal reported earlier Monday on the dramatic troop increase complying with the president's demand that military forces be put in place to stop the caravan of Central American migrants.
'Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border,' Trump wrote on twitter, moving away from last week's claim that the caravan contained 'Middle Easterners.'
Inside The Pentagon's Plan For Stopping The "Migrant Invasion"
The White House's latest "troop surge" to the border will ensure that more than 7,000 National Guard and active duty troops are waiting at 26 crossing points in Texas, Arizona and California to intercept members of the migrant caravan that's slowly making its way from Honduras to the US's southern border with Mexico. While most of the thousands of migrants who have been traveling with the caravan are expected to either turn back or seek asylum in Mexico, hundreds, if not thousands, could still try to cross into the US and either petition for asylum or try their luck with an illegal crossing as part of "Operation Faithful Patriot."
But as a second caravan has formed and is making its way through southern Mexico behind the first caravan that formed on Oct. 13 in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, the latest wave of soldiers will likely be staying at the hardened border for some time, armed with weapons and tools to help provide "logistical support" for the more than 2,000 National Guard troops that have been deployed since April, and the border patrol agents whose responsibility it is to apprehend migrants, per RT.
Inside The Pentagon's Plan For Stopping The "Migrant Invasion"
The White House's latest "troop surge" to the border will ensure that more than 7,000 National Guard and active duty troops are waiting at 26 crossing points in Texas, Arizona and California to intercept members of the migrant caravan that's slowly making its way from Honduras to the US's southern border with Mexico. While most of the thousands of migrants who have been traveling with the caravan are expected to either turn back or seek asylum in Mexico, hundreds, if not thousands, could still try to cross into the US and either petition for asylum or try their luck with an illegal crossing as part of "Operation Faithful Patriot."
But as a second caravan has formed and is making its way through southern Mexico behind the first caravan that formed on Oct. 13 in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, the latest wave of soldiers will likely be staying at the hardened border for some time, armed with weapons and tools to help provide "logistical support" for the more than 2,000 National Guard troops that have been deployed since April, and the border patrol agents whose responsibility it is to apprehend migrants, per RT.
About 3,500 migrants are being monitored in southern Mexico near the border between the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, while another group of roughly 3,000 is forming at the Mexican-Guatemalan border.
One of the first responsibilities of the latest troop wave will be to "harden" the border.
"We know border security is national security," General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, a commander with the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), announced at a news conference on Monday, noting that the main objective of the US forces is to "harden the points of entry."
The border patrol's message to the migrants is simple, one of their commanders said: "We will not allow a large group to enter the US in an unlawful and unsafe manner."
Trump said in an interview with Fox that the migrants are "wasting their time," adding that "they are not coming in." He added that they would be captured and not let out until their asylum claims had been processed.
To accomplish this, the troops will build additional border barriers using razor wire and "over two dozen CBP air assets," four Blackhawk helicopters and drones, which will monitor migrants attempting an illegal entry, according to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. Furthermore, US troops will use "multiple fixed wings assets" to deploy troops to stop migrants where needed.
"We are bringing three helicopter companies in. They are enhanced with optics and sensors that will allow them to operate at night and provide assistance to bring our personnel exactly where they need to be regardless of the conditions," Gen. O'Shaughnessy explained."The helicopters will ensure the agents can arrive in the most austere locations and fast-rope down and conduct…law enforcement activities."
1 comment:
Way to go President Trump! You are the best President Ever! Please do not let these people in!!!
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