Nsryjdtyk

I'm from Mexico, and if I wanted to enter the United States, I can think of about 50 ways of doing it, and that's just off the top of my head.

So I wonder what the point of this migrant caravan thing is? What I mean is, if they wanted to enter the US, why not just ... do it? What's the point of actually warning the country whose border you are about to illegally cross? Doesn't that defeat the whole point?

I know that some of the migrants wanted to seek asylum, which makes total sense, since then the caravan even brings attention to their struggles. But the asylum seekers were a minority (like, 150 people out of 1000). Many just wanted to get into the US no matter what. In fact, once the caravan reached the border, the US already had soldiers stationed there, and some migrants where actually arrested trying to cross. I mean, what the hell did they expect? Why try to sneak into the country on one hand, but on the other hand also make a huge global event about your arrival to the border?

That's like me saying I'm going to rob a bank tomorrow, so today I am going to set up a caravan where me and my co-robbers are going to walk towards the bank with posters saying "HERE WE COME" and "YOUR MONEY IS OURS". It doesn't seem to compute.

TLDR: Why, in the world, did migrants who intented to illegally cross into the US join this Caravan-thingy? Why not use the many other and smarter ways to get in?

• Refugees and illegal migrants moving through central America and Mexico are exploited and abused by criminal gangs. Some members of the caravan thought that going together would provide some degree of protection because of the publicity.


• Ideally, the members of the caravan want refugee status in the US, not illegal entry. Again, going together brings publicity and thus an increased chance of getting that hearing. (The chance of a successful outcome is slim with the current administration, but no worse than going alone.)


• Some might have hoped to form a sufficiently large group that humanitarian concerns force the various governments' hands, just as the conditions in the Budapest Railway Station prompted Germany to process these refugees.