President Trump really wants to make the migrant caravan this Halloween's biggest scare, so he's bringing out some unsubstantiated claims to make it happen.
In a series of Wednesday morning tweets, Trump claimed the caravans are "made up of some very bad thugs and gang members." Photos and reports have shown the nearest 3,500-person caravan is full of families, including pregnant mothers and children. These same groups also "fought back hard and viciously against Mexico at northern border before breaking through," he claimed, though the caravan of Honduran migrants is still hundreds of miles from Mexico's northern border with the U.S. Migrants did face Mexican police at the Mexico-Guatemala border, but reports of injured Mexican officials were false.
Trump is ready to deploy 5,200 American troops to the border, and, as he claimed in these tweets, "many more" are coming. That means the number of troops at the border will be nearly twice the number of migrants currently headed to meet them. Well, when the migrants arrive in about two months, that is.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Kristi Noem might not be long for TrumplandIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Homeland Security secretary has been one of the most visible and vocal architects of Trump’s anti-immigration efforts, even as her own star risks fading
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternative
Speed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s order
Speed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
