Migrant caravans stall on border with no leaders and little hope

The L.A. Times reports:

The migrant caravans are stuck.

Thousands of Central Americans who traveled north to the U.S. border in the fall, drawing dire warnings from President Trump, have settled into an uneasy existence in Tijuana, facing a backlash on both sides of the border.

Coordinators who helped direct the migrants through Mexico with bullhorns and advice have largely vanished and many of the migrants are frustrated, unsure what to do next.

“It’s like a house without the parents,” said Andrea Ramirez, 41, a Guatemalan who is living with her two daughters in El Barretal migrant shelter in Tijuana, where many caravan members have settled. “The children do whatever they want.”



Most important perhaps, the migrant caravans have not drawn the same sympathy or political support that some previous groups — such as the surge of unaccompanied minors in 2014 — did in either Mexico or the United States.

“I left my country because I thought this caravan was going to the United States,” said Jose Morenos, 49, who joined a caravan in Honduras after seeing a story on the news. “I would not have come here if I knew they’d stop in Mexico.”

It’s a sign of how little the groups understood the harsh political realities of immigration that they approached the border in November just as Americans were embroiled in a bitter midterm election campaign in which Trump falsely warned of a looming “invasion” of criminals and terrorists.

Since then, Trump has fought Congress over his demands for $5 billion for his border wall, keeping his immigration crackdown in the spotlight.

And the migrants’ chances of gaining legal entry into the United States have only worsened: On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced that asylum seekers will be forced to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the U.S., a dramatic policy shift.

Check out the L.A. Times in a called straight news story "Trump falsely warned"..... It really is an invasion .