Next Caravan Rising - Matthew Vadum

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by Matthew Vadum

Organizing in Honduras - while Congress sleeps.

Another large caravan of would-be illegal aliens is forming down in Central America with the intention of moving north to demand jobs and government benefits, according to media reports.

The formation of this new army of migrants drives home the point that a border wall at the lengthy, porous U.S.-Mexico boundary is urgently needed. The failure to move forward with wall construction sends a message to the world that America is a weak country that lacks the moral fiber and political will to defend its national sovereignty. Not building the wall also provides would-be border jumpers extra incentives to enter the United States unlawfully.

The new caravan is estimated at 15,000 people and is reportedly planning to leave Honduras on Jan. 15.

“They say they are even bigger and stronger than the last caravan,” Irma Garrido, a member of Reactiva Tijuana Foundation has been quoted saying.

Thousands of Central American migrants from previous caravans in the fall are still present in various cities along the border. Many are waiting for U.S. authorities to process their requests for asylum. The migrants have worn out their welcome in Tijuana, Mexico, where overcrowded shelters are taxing local resources.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Coordinators who helped direct the migrants on the 2,000-mile trek with bullhorns, arranging for buses and giving advice along the way, have mostly vanished. Many of the migrants say they feel abandoned and unsure where to turn next. Some are ready to return home.
Garrido said this new, larger caravan will probably be joined by more people in El Salvador and in Guatemala, but she said they don’t plan on coming straight to the Tijuana-San Diego border, where resources are already stretched nearly to a breaking point.

Last week, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to formulate a strategy to reduce Central American migration. It includes a $25-billion expenditure by Mexico in its southern states over the coming five years. The U.S. has vowed to ante up $4.8 billion for aid programs in Mexico and $5.8 billion for programs benefiting the Northern Triangle of Central America, consisting of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

And yet American lawmakers have still not approved the $5 billion needed to begin construction of a wall on the international border with Mexico. President Trump has said he is considering shutting down the nation’s southern border if wall funding is not approved.

News of the new caravan comes as the partial shutdown of the U.S. government, which at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 22 ran out of appropriated funds for some of its agencies, continues.

Instead of working on border security, Congress wasted many valuable legislative days in recent weeks on leftist nonsense. Congress threw away days debating a pro-criminal so-called justice reform bill backed by George Soros and Van Jones. Few Republican lawmakers opposed the measure and their failure to show courage in the face of a media onslaught tarnished the GOP’s reputation as a law-and-order party.

Republicans in the House of Representatives did eventually do the right thing on border funding. That chamber voted 217 to 185 on Dec. 20 to approve a temporary spending bill after adding $5.7 billion in appropriations for the wall.

Well aware that a failure to follow through on his signature campaign promise to build a wall along the nation’s multi-state border with Mexico could very well doom his chances of winning a second term in the White House, President Trump is insisting that Congress approve at least initial funding for the $25 billion project.

So far Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is siding with obstructionist Democrats and RINOs in the Senate by refusing to overhaul the Senate’s antiquated filibuster rule. Currently, 60 votes are needed in the Senate to pass the House-approved bill but senators have the power to reduce the threshold to a simple majority of the 100 members of the Senate. Instead of empowering Republicans to pass the bill, McConnell has opted to let minority Democrats continue to wield a veto over the bill and hold the wall project hostage to placate that party’s radical left-wing base.

Although Republicans will cede control of the House to Democrats on Jan. 3, the GOP’s strength will only grow in the Senate on that same date. Presently there are 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats in the Senate. As of Jan. 3, there will be 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats.

America-hating Democrats show no signs of giving up in the shutdown drama. Drew Hamill, deputy chief of staff to probable incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), reinforced his party’s intransigence.

“Democrats are united against the president’s immoral, ineffective and expensive wall,” NBC News quoted Hamill saying.

President Trump took to Twitter in an attempt to shame Democrat lawmakers into approving wall funding.

Trump tweeted on the weekend that former President Obama’s home in the nation’s capital has a sturdy wall protecting it.

“President Obama and Mrs. Obama built/has a ten foot Wall around their D.C. mansion/compound,” Trump wrote. “I agree, totally necessary for their safety and security. The U.S. needs the same thing, slightly larger version!”

Conservatives continue to stand behind the president.

Trump should hold out “until hell freezes over,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told Fox News.

“People are calling in saying ‘stand up, don’t give up. Get us the wall. We need it.”

“We already appropriated 75 percent of the government’s funding. So when people talk about the shutdown, it’s really only a part of the 25 percent [of the government that is closed].”

Matthew Vadum, formerly senior vice president at the investigative think tank Capital Research Center, is an award-winning investigative reporter and author of the book, "Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts Are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers."

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272419/next-caravan-rising-matthew-vadum

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