Pompeo meets with Mexican government as its police attack Honduran migrants
By
Eric London
20 October 2018
Mexican federal police attacked and fired tear gas at a crowd of over 4,000 Honduran immigrants seeking entry to Mexico at its southern border with Guatemala yesterday. The migrant caravan left San Pedro de Sula, Honduras last Friday en route to the United States.
The decision by police to push back a crowd gathered on the narrow international bridge over the Suchiate River nearly provoked a stampede with potentially deadly consequences.
As it was, hundreds of women and children were injured and many youth jumped off the bridge in a desperate attempt to swim to the Mexican side. The massive crowd had just overrun a barrier set up by the Guatemalan government just south of the river.
Trump, meanwhile, escalated his threat to close the border and deploy the military to the US-Mexico border if Mexico does not stop the caravan with force.
“We’re calling up the military, not the guard, we’re calling up the military and we’re going to have the military stationed,” he said Friday afternoon. “They’re not coming into this country. They might as well turn back.”
Speaking at an Air Force Base before a rally in Phoenix, Arizona late Friday night, Trump called the caravan members criminals, spewing xenophobic rhetoric in a bid to boost turnout in the upcoming midterm elections among his base.
“They put all the women and children up front,” he said. “Do you think they’re giving us their finest? These countries are not stupid, they give us people they don’t want, and we need a wall.”
In response to a question as to whether the immigrants were criminals, Trump responded, “Oh please, don’t be a baby, take a look. Look at what’s happening…These are…