Juchitan, Mexico – Many KPRC2 viewers and followers have asked whether or not there are criminals in the migrant caravans, as President Donald Trump had repeatedly said.
Mexican government officials recently released photographs of two Hondurans from the second caravan who they arrested and deported for crimes they said were committed in Honduras. These were two persons out of around 2,500 people.
The first, larger caravan, with around 7,000 people, was in Juchitán, Mexico, on Wednesday. The second was 500 miles behind, in Tapachula, Mexico.
Federal police in Mexico searched the second caravan on Tuesday and arrested Adín Josué, 21, on unspecified drug charges; and Juan Carlos, 47, who is wanted in connection with three homicides in Honduras.
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Many ask if there are criminals in the migrant caravans. Mexican government officials just released these photos of two...
Posted by KPRC2 Jacob Rascon on Wednesday, October 31, 2018
As you might expect, migrants we talk to in Mexico insist they are honest, hard-working people desperate for a safer place with a better economy to provide for their families and improve their lives. They plead for compassion.
We have no way of knowing how many migrants have criminal records or intentions. Several men have admitted to us that they were deported from the United States previously, and they didn't want to talk about why.
When we reported from El Salvador, Houston and the southern border on the fight against MS-13 several months ago, FBI, Border Patrol and other law enforcement officials told us MS-13 members disguise themselves as unaccompanied minors and fathers seeking asylum when they cross illegally into the U.S.
Migrant caravan: KPRC2's Jacob Rascon reports in Mexico
Migrants we spoke with in Mexico insist that MS-13 and other gang violence, extreme poverty and lack of job opportunities are exactly what compelled them to leave Honduras.
"It's broken," Honduran José Luis said in Spanish, referring to his country. "We can't take care of our families."
Thousands of migrants appear to have joined the caravan spontaneously. Original organizers admit they only expected a few hundred people to join what started as a political statement against the Honduran government.
Dozens of migrants interviewed at random over the last several days told us something similar about why they left: They dreamed of a better opportunity for themselves and their families in the United States and recognized that the caravan provided a safer way to make the journey.
As the examples above help illustrate, mixed in with the caravan are some previously deported and currently wanted Hondurans guilty of a variety of crimes.
If and when migrants cross into the United States illegally for the first time, they will be guilty of a federal misdemeanor.
There are now four migrant caravans headed to the United States. In addition to the two mentioned above from Honduras, two others, much smaller caravans of about 400 people each, started in El Salvador; one crossed into Mexico legally on Tuesday. The other left San Salvador on Wednesday.