Experts: Caravan of Central Americans a 'Walkathon for Open Borders,' 'Inevitable' Result of Pushing Amnesty

As about 1,500 Central American migrants with the open borders group Pueblo Sin Fronteras are traveling through Mexico and will soon reach the southern border, where they will likely request asylum in the U.S., experts say there are steps President Trump’s administration can take to block the group from entering the country. 

Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Director of Policy Jessica Vaughan called the caravan of migrants a “Walkathon for open borders” and a “stunt to try to test” the U.S. immigration system and the Trump administration, in an interview with talk radio host Larry O’Connor.

“The Trump administration could take some steps to try to head them off and send a signal that they’re not going to succeed in gaining entry into the United States,” Vaughan said. “And you know they could also provoke our government to declare an emergency, either not let them cross at all or detain them once they do get across and remove them back to their home countries very swiftly and that will prove to be a complete waste of time for them.” [Emphasis added]

“We are not obligated to just accept people into this country who just show up on our doorstep,” Vaughan said. [Emphasis added]

CIS Director Mark Krikorian said current immigration laws that allow migrants traveling through Mexico to claim asylum in the U.S. would need to be changed to ensure caravans of migrants are not allowed into the country in the future.

“If you’re an illegal immigrant, and walk up to our immigration inspector at a border, and say ‘Hi, I want to claim political asylum,’ we have to take that seriously and let you in while we do that case,” Krikorian said. “Instead, we need the law to change so that anyone who passes through a country that has its own asylum system, like Mexico, doesn’t even get to apply. They just say ‘Sorry, try Mexico. That’s where you should have sought refuge.’ Because you’re supposed to look for it in the first country you’re not being persecuted in.” [Emphasis added]

NumbersUSA President Roy Beck said in a statement to Breitbart News that the caravan of migrants was the result of the media establishment and Republican and Democrat lawmakers pushing amnesty for illegal aliens over the past six months.

“This march is a predictable outcome of most American media and politicians sending the message to the world in recent years that another amnesty is inevitable and that Congress is unwilling to pass mandatory E-Verify and asylum reform,” Beck said.

NumbersUSA is urging the Republican-controlled Congress to pass Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) pro-American immigration reform legislation — which has been endorsed by Trump — that would end the process allowing border-crossers to easily claim asylum in the U.S. and thus be released into the country while they await trial.

Beck said mandatory E-Verify, the system that bans employers from hiring illegal aliens over Americans, would readily fix the larger illegal immigration issue.

“Mandating E-Verify to take away the jobs magnet would dispel the impression to the rest of the world that America will continue to hire most illegal workers who go to the trouble of getting here,” Beck said. “Congress must pass legislation to resolve this situation.”

In statements on Tuesday, Trump called the current immigration laws in the U.S. “horrible” and announced that he would be consulting with the Defense Department to enact a plan that deploys troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States,” Trump said.