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Welcome to the official home and wonderful world of Pulitzer Prize Winning Political Cartoonist Michael P. Ramirez |
Democrat map 11-16-18
Michael is the daily editorial cartoonist for the Las Vegas Review Journal View all 2018 cartoons HERE
In a scene not unlike when a coach rallies his players before a big game, the Honduran media figure pressed the encircling migrants on the night of Nov. 7 not to give up on their “mission” to achieve the U.S. border.
The large group ensconced last week in Mexico’s capital was the foremost and largest of five migrant caravans traversing the nation and headed north. Altogether, they comprise roughly 12,000 people, mainly from the three Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Gabriella, a 20-year-old woman from Honduras, sat on a steel blue sleeping pad with her 11-month-old daughter Ayesha cradled in her arms. Mother and child were encamped on the grounds outside the Jesús Martínez Palillo soccer stadium along with roughly 4,500 other migrants. “We’re here for lack of work,” said Gabriella, who asked that her last name not be published. Like many others, she hasn’t taken up Mexico on its offer of asylum, choosing instead to keep heading northward to the U.S. border. The five caravans highlight an unprecedented uptick in frequency and size from the normal flow of Central American migrants, experts say, potentially heralding a new era of larger, more frequent, and better organized caravans that could test U.S. immigration laws and strain the U.S.-Mexico relationship. “It’s never been like this, it’s an unprecedented volume,” said Gustavo Mohar, a former undersecretary for migration, population, and religious affairs in Mexico’s Interior Ministry. The migrants departed Mexico City on Saturday, heading for the border in Tijuana, opposite San Diego. Traveling on foot, the bulk of them likely would take several weeks to reach the U.S. border. At a nighttime assembly Nov. 7, migrants listen to leaders who encourage them to press on northward to the U.S. border. However, a group of about 400, reportedly bused ahead of the main caravan body, arrived Tuesday in Tijuana, regional news outlets reported, highlighting what some officials describe as an unprecedented degree of logistical organization and funding. “These caravans are very well orchestrated,” said one Mexican official, who asked not to be named. “We’ve seen signals that there is money. The signals are different from the typical flow of migrants.” About 7,000 U.S. military personnel have deployed to the southwest border with Mexico to harden defenses as the migrants approach. Hidden Hand Benitez, the Honduran television personality, is also a member of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, according to Mexican news reports. People Without Borders is a Chicago-based nonprofit that has organized multiple migrant caravans aimed at the U.S. border. The nonprofit notably organized a caravan of Central American migrants in April known as the Migrants’ Way of the Cross. People Without Borders, however, insisted the caravan encamped in Mexico City was a grassroots, spontaneous movement. “Look, this started in Honduras as a united caravan. All of it,” said Oscar Noel Bonilla, a Honduran worker for the group who was organizing logistics. “There’s no director. No leader. Pueblo Sin Fronteras just provides the aid. They talk with immigration, federal officers.” On their own, migrants face the threat of rape, robbery, kidnapping, and extortion by criminals, gangs, and drug cartels. Nevertheless, the group’s influence was on full display during the raucous nighttime assembly Nov. 7. The nonprofit’s organizers urged migrants to press on and offered seminars to prepare them for questions at the U.S. border from officials charged with verifying asylum claims. Still, despite their prolific presence and influence, organizers from People Without Borders said they were not in control of the caravan. “No one’s controlling anybody here,” Bonilla said. “Everyone [is] looking out for everyone.” Gina Garibo, a project coordinator for People Without Borders, told the crowd that the caravan wasn’t led by any particular organization. “I know that a great many of you are excited to journey on,” she said. “Others, listen, others could also make a life for themselves in Mexico, and it’s fair for the government to listen to them.” “No,” the crowd interrupted. Rejecting Mexico’s Asylum Offer “This is a different social phenomenon,” Mohar, the former Mexican official, said in an interview with The Daily Signal. “It’s an expression of desperation. In my view, it’s an expression of the absolute failed states of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.” In late October, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced a plan to offer temporary work permits, medical care, and government ID cards to Central American migrants seeking asylum in Mexico. Since that offer, about 3,500 migrants have split off from the first two caravans, opting to stay in Mexico, Mexican officials said. Of that number, many were women and children, officials said. So, as the caravans head north, the percentage of men increased. read more at the Daily Signal With her signature sassy wit, our good friend Ann Coulter speaks with Dave Sussman of Whiskey Politics:
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