(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)When the migrant caravan that originated in Guatemala isn’t bum-rushing the US border, they make themselves unwelcome to residents of Tijuana, Mexico, where they are currently squatting. The US won’t let them in as their bogus claims of asylum are slowly processed and Mexico is growing weary of their occupation.
Thankfully one group of migrants has a solution that was inspired by Rev. Al Sharpton’s shameless race-hustling: a good old-fashioned shakedown. A group from Honduras is demanding that President Donald Trump either let them into the US or give them $50,000 each so they can return to their home country. Is there a third option?
The San Diego Tribune reports that a group of around 100 migrants marched to the US Consulate in Tijuana on Tuesday. The Honduran migrants presented a letter with demands that President Trump let them into the US or, if that won’t happen, that they each be paid $50,000 to return home. Group organizer Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa said they came up with that random figure collectively.
“It may seem like a lot of money to you, but it is a small sum compared to everything the United States has stolen from Honduras,” said Ulloa.
The US gives Honduras $127 million every year, so maybe we’re even and that’s assuming the US has stolen from Honduras, which it hasn’t.
And what exactly would these Hondurans do with $50,000 each?
Getting $55,000 for each of the caravan members, Ulloa said, might allow them to go back home and start a small business.
If these migrants can return home to start businesses, they aren’t being threatened and persecuted, meaning they have absolutely no claim of asylum. It looks like they accidentally blew their cover story on this one.
To somehow sweeten the deal, the migrants’ letter also criticized US intervention in Central America. When you are trying to crash a party, don’t talk trash about the host. It’s just bad form.
The group also demanded that the US remove Honduran president Orlando Hernandez. They gave the US a hard deadline of 72 hours to respond, and here’s the funniest thing about this:
They said they had not decided what to do if their demands were not met.
“I don’t know, we will decide as a group,” Ulloa said.
They didn’t think that one through, did they? What could they possibly do if and when the US doesn’t respond? Hang out in Tijuana longer? Return home to Honduras without $50,000 each?
When you are not negotiating from a position of strength, you cannot make ridiculous demands like this. President Trump is a master-negotiator and this is making him laugh.
“In the meantime, families, women
Again with the criticism? These people have a lot to learn about asking for stuff they don’t deserve. The letter went on to accuse the US of violating international law by not letting all of the migrants in.
In a move akin to showing up at a party with the same outfit as another guest, the two groups were unaware of each other’s demands.
The countries of Central America may be poor and terrible places to live, but they aren’t war or disaster zones, which would be the basic requirement for seeking asylum. With their list of demands, these migrants have made it clear that their asylum claims are meritless. They just want some free money from Uncle Sam, which makes them panhandlers or democratic socialist Millennials.
