Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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A caravan of more than 7,000 people, making its way through Central America, is being attacked by U.S. President Donald Trump as he seeks to rally people to vote for Republican candidates in the November 6 midterm elections to the U.S. Congress. The caravan, which began with over a 100 people in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, grew in strength to include Salvadorans and Guatemalans. Mr Trump took to social media and campaign rallies, targeting the caravan. “Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!” Mr. Trump tweeted on Monday. He, however, provided no evidence to back his claims and neither have the intelligence agencies come forward with evidence. In fact, evidence points to the contrary — most of those making their way to the U.S. from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are fleeing gang violence, abject poverty and unemployment. The President told reporters asking for proof to take their cameras into the caravan, saying that they would find members from MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha, a violent gang) and West Asians. Mr. Trump used race and migration successfully to appeal to his voter base during the 2016 presidential election and is doing the same thing again, two weeks before the midterms. The number of Republican and Republican-leaning individuals who say that the U.S. has no responsibility to accept refugees is three times the number of Democrats and Democrat-leaning individuals, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in April and May. Mr. Trump squarely blamed Democrats for the caravan, accusing them of opening up the U.S. border to “deadly drugs and gangs” through their policies and also funding the migrants. “[T]hink of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.
