I have to wonder, do these stories actually help?
For Honduran migrants in caravan, the journey is personal
A deportee from the United States trying to get back to the life he spent more than a decade building. A woman whose soldier husband already is in the U.S. with their 4-year-old son. A teenager desperate to earn money to support his diabetic mother back home.
The caravan of Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico — estimated at around 7,000 people, nearly all Hondurans — has attracted headlines in the United States less than two weeks before Nov. 6 midterm elections.
But most of those walking through blistering tropical temperatures, sleeping on the ground in town squares and relying on donated food from local residents are unaware of U.S. political concerns or even that there’s a vote coming up.
While they commonly cite the same core reasons for migrating — poverty, violence — their stories are deeply personal.
Personal!
David Polanco Lopez, 42, is a former anti-narcotics officer from Progreso, Honduras. He’s traveling north in the caravan with his daughter Jenifer, 19, and his 3-year-old granddaughter, Victoria, whom the adults take turns pushing in a stroller.
Polanco came to the United States 13 years ago and applied for asylum after he was threatened by drug traffickers over his police work. He was given a court date, but he acknowledges he never showed up — in part because he didn’t understand the court document’s instructions, which were in English.
Polanco put down roots in Arizona: He married, and got a home. He thought that as long as he stayed out of trouble, he’d be fine.
“If they catch me committing a felony, then go ahead and kick me out,” Polanco said. “But my record is clean.”
So, he came to the U.S. illegally, blew off his court date because he couldn’t be bothered to try and learn our language or find an interpreter, and was deported. Now he’s attempting to force his way back in. Not exactly a great role model.
Then there’s Alba Rosa Chinchilla Ortiz, a 23-year-old from Amapala in Honduras’ Valle department, whose husband took their child to the U.S. and is supposedly applying for asylum. Why didn’t she go with to start out? It’s about creating a sob story about her being separated from her 4 year old for 7 months. She’s the one in the picture above. Glad she could take time to shower, put on fresh clothes, as well as makeup, all for the media’s sad face picture after walking hundreds of miles.
We also have Marel Antonio Murillo Santos , who is attempting to force his way into the U.S. so he can make money to send back home for his sick mother. Doesn’t sound like someone escaping from dangerous conditions (why don’t we treat people escaping from Baltimore the same?). You know who it’s personal for? It’s personal for all of the Americans who will financially underwrite everyone of these people from the minute they start interacting at the border, or cross illegally and legal citizens will pay ICE, law enforcement, judges, lawyers, shelters, and that is just the beginning. Are we supposed to take in and support every person who has a sob story? Why not apply for asylum in Mexico, where they share a common culture and language? Or are they just looking for free stuff in America?
It would be helpful if Democrats, and a few squishy Republicans, would stop enticing people to come to the U.S. illegally.
