Hey, journalists covering the #migrantcaravan - Can you ask the migrants how they found out about the caravan? In 2018, right before the US midterm elections, many migrants were lured into participating by a fake Facebook account.... buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/kenben…
After having seen half a dozen caravans come through Tijuana prior to 11/2018, I believe that caravan was, in part, orchestrated to affect the US elections and increase repression against migrants and the attorneys and others who offer assistance
Caravans prior to 11/2018 were much smaller and more focused on protecting the most vulnerable travelers (women & kids). 11/2018 was DIFFERENT. It was the first time I felt unsafe offering basic legal information to the migrants. They had been told that the lawyers were lying...
...and the only media allowed in the migrant camps seemed to be right-wing fringe media intent on doxxing the service providers. Many migrants participating in the caravan did not have the same orientation toward collective safety. I feared for the women and kids caught up in it
The timing of this caravan is suspicious. The images of young men ‘storming the gates’ in Southern Mexico look eerily similar to 2018. Again, there are many women, kids, and dads in the caravan desperate for a better life, but they aren’t being violent. They just want help.
If Mexico is going to give folks asylum, given the timing of adjudication, many will be approved/denied just in time to travel to the US border for our 11/2020 elections. The images coming out of Tapachula now certainly affect public perception of impeachment in the meantime
There’s plenty of evidence to show that the 11/2018 caravan and the subsequent border protest that resulted in migrants getting tear gassed were orchestrated by outside forces. Unfortunately a lot of that got lost in the sensationalistic coverage.
I just hope the media doesn’t lose sight of WHY this is happening and HOW it came to be this time around. Please, ask the right questions and keep digging until you find the truth. Don’t let this become another excuse for governments to persecute migrants and advocates alike
I don’t mean any of this to discount the agency of the migrants themselves. Obviously they have their reasons for leaving. The problem is when they are purposefully given misinformation that can adversely affect their decision making process
