Ken Oliver, Senior Director of Engagement and Right on Immigration with Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) recently noted that lax border policies are related to a growing migrant caravan traveling through Mexico. Migrant caravans have been noted to be rife with human and sex trafficking, posing great danger to those involved, leading Mexican authorities to break up the caravan.
According to The Cannon, a migrant caravan was traveling through Mexico attempting to reach the southern border of Texas. Oliver linked the growing number of individuals attempting to cross the southern border to the border policies of the current administration.
“Our southwestern border is being flooded by migrants from over 160 nations who are taking advantage of the administration’s blatant disregard for the laws on the books, which require detention and thorough adjudication before any granting of asylum,” Oliver said. “Correcting the gross abuse and mismanagement of the U.S. asylum system is the single most important task that must be accomplished in order to end America’s worsening border crisis.”
On June 6, The Washington Examiner reported that the caravan of between 6,000 and 11,000 migrants is not primarily individuals from Mexico and Central America, but rather from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The group planned to travel through Mexico to reach the southern border of the state of Texas.
CNN published an updated report on the caravan on June 11, noting it had been dissolved by Mexican immigration authorities due to concerns over rampant abuse present in such caravans. The INM said, “with the agreements reached thanks to our talks, migrants are prevented from being victims of criminals who are dedicated to human trafficking or traffickers who expose the migrants to unsafe conditions.”
The dangers posed to migrants have long been present. Greg Sindelar, CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, noted in a newsletter on May 6 that “An estimated 80% of women and girls are sexually assaulted and abused en route to the United States. There are deaths; last December, 54 migrants were killed when the truck pulling the trailer they were crammed into rolled while taking a sharp turn in southern Mexico. Hundreds more die every year in the deserts and brushy vastness of south Texas.”
