Something Honduran This Way Comes

Just in time for Halloween, a caravan resembling a scene from World War Z of over four thousand mostly Hondurans is making the grueling trek across Mexico, planning to eventually seek asylum at US Border Patrol – the closest facility of which is located in McAllen, TX. If McAllen rings a bell, it’s because a smaller caravan of US hopefuls made its way north in April, leading to, most notably, families being separated at McAllen. Cumulating in what I think is the biggest missed sorority girl Halloween costume opportunity of 2018 – Sexy Crying Girl At Border. 

President Trump is rapidly firing off poorly researched information on the preferred social media platform for white nationalists and Kanye West – Twitter – claiming Democrat involvement in the organization of the caravan as well as potential Middle Eastern terrorists operating incognito within the caravan. But we actually have a surprising amount of data on the Hondurans working their way across Mexico:

The Department of Homeland Security is able to gather biometric data as migrants pass between the borders of Central American countries. A former senior intelligence official who continues to be briefed on current intelligence told NBC News that there is no evidence that any Middle Eastern terrorists are hiding in the caravan.

The primary issue isn’t terrorism. We have countless emotionally unstable teens with guns and gang members with nothing to live for already. Sorry sir, the job’s been filled. The issue is what constitutes as being asylum-worthy. Not to mention the burden, chaos, and political fallout from dealing with thousands of Hondurans with nothing to offer this country besides Internet headlines, increased homelessness, and at best, unskilled manual labor. Also not to mention the fact that America – outside of some higher moral obligation from Above – isn’t indebted to Hondurans.

The country’s citizens suffer extreme poverty and high murder rates at the hands of a corrupt government. Of course they want to flee. What Would Jesus Do? Something. What Would A Successful Country Constrained By Twenty-First-Century Resources Do? Hasta la vista Hondurans.

Back to asylum-worthy. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, an asylum-seeker must constitute as a refugee, meaning:

Any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

So practically all Hondurans. And Somalians. And millions of other people across the world. Also disenfranchised people living on our own soil. “Asylum” was created in good faith. It’s not synonymous with extortion. And now, the definition might need tweaking. If members of the caravan are simply staging a global protest to highlight extreme violence in South America, fine. Something needs to be done. Though – especially considering our geographically and culturally disparate nations – I hardly believe America is the country responsible for doing it. If members of the caravan actually want to bypass the marginally better Mexico to achieve the American Dream en masse, that’s on them. Get ready for crying girl at border 2.0.

America is a country of immigrants, so we can’t act like we’re above seeking safety and prosperity in a distant land as these Hondurans are attempting. After all, the Native Americans took us in. And look how well that panned out for them. 

Photo Credit: Getty Images