Some in the national news media on Monday were playing up members of the Central American caravan as mostly young, nonviolent families who are “desperate” to claim asylum in the United States, even after Mexico said Sunday that many were so violent they had to be deported in order to avoid destabilizing the U.S.-Mexico relationship.
U.S. border officials on Sunday fired tear gas at the Tijuana border crossing after Mexican authorities were overwhelmed by migrants trying to push through into the United States. The Mexican Interior Ministry said in a statement it would be deporting those who acted “violently” and “illegally,” and the U.S. side reported that rocks and bottles were being thrown at U.S. border agents.
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The ministry said the the actions of the migrants violated Mexico’s legal migration framework and could have led to a “serious incident.”
Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum Buenrostro said in a post on Facebook that he wouldn’t permit the “bad” behavior to threaten his city’s relationship with the United States. He also in a previous post last week that he would not “indent” Tijuana by offering public services to the migrants and called on Mexico’s federal government to be “held responsible.”
But on Monday morning, some journalists and political commentators avoided any mention of these violent acts, and instead focused on the plight of some of the families traveling with the more violent young adult males.
“Look, there are no easy answers here and it’s a very difficult situation, a very complicated situation,” said Ana Navarro, a CNN anti-Trump commentator, adding that the U.S. needs an immigration policy “that does not involve tear gassing children.”
A Washington Post story published Monday began by focusing on photographs of migrant parents who, with the children they brought, were seen fleeing the tear gas.
“Reuters photographer Kim Kyung-Hoon shot the images, which provoked outrage and seemed at odds with President Trump’s portrayal of the caravan migrants as ‘criminals’ and ‘gang members,’” the Post story said.
Hours after the clash at the border, the Guardian published an article titled, “This is what Trump’s caravan ‘invasion’ really looks like,” which featured several pictures of families and children.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin allowed Monday that “certainly people shouldn’t throw rocks,” but said the main tension at the border is the desperation of caravan members.
“We are always going to have limited control of what goes on in Mexico, much less what goes on in Honduras,” he said. “Fundamentally, the problem it seems is that these people are poor, they’re desperate, they want to come to find a better life which is why immigrants always come.”
Toobin also argued there’s no need for Trump’s proposed border wall because the clash was handled “pretty well yesterday.”
Trump made the caravan a central issue in his campaign effort for Republicans heading into the midterm elections, regularly tweeting and commenting on it at his rallies, describing it as a vessel for criminals and even terrorism. He often referred to it as “an invasion.”
Much of the news media at the time criticized the characterization of the caravan as a threat and insisted Trump was cynically using “fear” to energize his supporters for the election.
“The migrants, according to Fox News’ reporting, are more than 2 months away, if any of them actually come here,” Fox News anchor Shepard Smith said in late October. “But tomorrow is one week before the midterm election which is what all of this is about. There is no invasion, no one’s coming to get you. There’s nothing at all to worry about.”
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote that, “There is in fact no emergency, no invasion, no reason to panic.”
A New York Times report said the caravan was an attempt by Trump and his supporters “to push alarmist, conspiratorial warnings about the migrant caravan more than 2,000 miles from the border.”
Trump has showed sign of toning down his focus on the caravan.
“Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries,” he wrote Monday on Twitter. “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!”
