A Caravan, made up of hundreds of Central American asylum seekers, has reached the border of Mexico and America. The caravan began as a peaceful march by Central Americans, hoping to find safety in the USA.
Instead, they were met with resistance from border patrol, and mass chaos ensued.
Reports stated that the rising tensions came to a head this weekend when a group of asylum seekers threw rocks at border patrol officers and rushed toward the border.
Federal agents then retaliated by firing tear gas at the crowd. Among those attacked, were mothers, children, and the elderly.
President Trump stated that asylum seekers grabbed children along the way, to make their image more favorable to enter the US. He also claimed that the patrol officers didn’t use tear gas on children, despite pictures and videos showing otherwise.
Trump’s stance is firm, stating that nobody will get into the country unless they do so legally. Yet, according to the official website of Homeland Security, “You may apply for asylum status regardless of how you arrived in the United States or your current immigration status”.
Those that are a part of the caravan may have to wait up to 6 weeks to claim asylum.
Some of fleeing their countries were latinx that identified with the LGBT+ community.
LGBT+ asylum seekers have a history of being mistreated by those in their country, and by American authorities. Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez, a Honduran transgender migrant, was detained by ICE in May and died of dehydration while in ICE custody, alongside complications with an infection. Reports suggest that mistreatment of Rodriguez’s HIV infection by authorities may have contributed to her death.
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