TAPACHULA, Mexico – They are in a rush to get to El Norte before a possible Trump victory in November.
Pregnant women. Women pushing babies in strollers. Women with babies strapped to their backs. Young children with dusty sandals covering their chafed and oozing feet. Young men who are fleeing gang violence and oppression.
Their all hungry. Thirsty. Before they reach their destination, they will endure things most of us can only imagine. Beatings. Gang rape. And theft of what little they have. The migrants have to be made of tough stuff if they are going to make the approximate 2,000 mile trek from Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala to the northern border shared with the United States.
They are headed to America. Land of the Free. Home of the Brave. They hope to reach the Promised Land before Trump makes good on his promise to, “close the border to asylum seekers.”
“All of us here are hard-working human beings, we’re fighters,” said Laydi Sierra, a Venezuelan migrant traveling with dozens of family members. She said she has not been following the U.S. campaign, but wishes that Trump loses “because he wants nothing to do with migrants,” she told The Associated Press recently.
The migrants are from different countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Cuba, and Venezuela. There is safety in numbers. That is one of the main reasons they travel by caravan. Yoisy, a Venezuelan migrant told Reuters, “I travel more safely in a caravan, I don’t want to be killed in Mexico,” Yoisy made the decision to travel with the group because she was tired of waiting for an appointment through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP One platform to apply for asylum.
Why are they willing to risk their lives and the lives of the children? Why don’t they stay in their own country. Amnesty International says that some people become migrants to escape “political unrest, poverty, or gang violence.” Others, the organization says are fleeing xenophobic prosecution or forced labor – modern day slavery.
Currently, there are approximately 4,000 people in the caravan headed to the United States. If they make it, the trek will take approximately three months.
Some reference content courtesy of Reuters and The Associated Press
