One of the most controversial topics in American today is immigration; with a caravan of migrants coming from Honduras, Tijuana and Mexicali, tension on the topic is at its peak. More than 7,000 central American migrants have arrived at the US-Mexico border with hopes of settling in the US.
US officials have warned the caravan that anyone entering the country illegally will face arrest, prosecution and deportation. The border agents and migrants clashed after the migrants threw rocks and the border patrol and they responded by throwing tear gas at the group of migrants, which included children.
Donald Trump took to Twitter to address the subject saying “Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!”
A group of Hondurans scaled the Mexican border wall in Tijuana and were arrested immediately as they set foot in San Diego. The migrants who have walked thousands of miles have planned to claim political asylum because of their fear to return home. The court has an obligation to hear all cases of asylum no matter if the people have entered the country illegally or not.
Political asylum means that someone is asking for political protection from one country because they cannot return to their own country. The asylum seeker must prove that they are facing persecution from their country. Seeking for asylum is not illegal and many of these migrants are being labeled as criminals without any proof of criminal background.
Junior Kade Spittler said, “ Just let them in, they are in obvious need of help and have come such a long way for a reason. How could we send them back to a place where they could potentially die?” This is not an unpopular opinion, as many Americans are fighting for the migrant caravan to receive help from our government.
Tijuana has recently shut down their migrant caravan shelter, which held about 6,000 Central Americans with hopes of making it into the USA. The shelter was closed due to poor sanitary conditions, and while others are taken to a new shelter, it leaves some of these migrants with nowhere.
The massive amounts of asylum claims have backed up the processing system; it will take a while for many of these migrants to get a court hearing. It is also possible these migrants could wait months for a court date and end up being sent back.
There is an implemented policy that separates children from their parents, breaking apart the migrant families. What the future holds for many of these migrants is unknown, but we can only hope for the best in regards to these many troubled families.
The future is not bright for many migrants, with resident Donald Trump against letting immigrants into the country it is unlikely they will receive asylum. It is looking like many of them will be sent back to Central America to endure the terrible conditions
Junior Clay Brown said, “It is sickening, they shouldn’t be able to keep these people out of America, rejecting them from the USA is like sentencing them to death.” Many people at our school are against Trump and his policies to keep the migrants out of our country.
The migrants have made a long journey to receive asylum in hopes for a better life and whether or not that happens is yet to be decided. It will take months for these migrants to get a chance to make it into the United States in hopes that they aren’t sent back to their homes.
by Matt Stone
The Claw 