Migrant caravan: Asylum seekers travel through Mexico as Trump walks back suggestion that migrants throwing stones will be shot at border
Critics say the president is stoking fears about the caravan for political reasons ahead of midterm elections
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Your support makes all the difference.Thousands of refugees and migrants from Central America are walking and hitchhiking northwards through Mexico, with Donald Trump walking back his suggestion that any migrants found throwing stones at the US border could be shot by the military.
In addition to this original group, more than 1,000 migrants in a second caravan that forced its way across the river from Guatemala have begun arriving in the southern Mexico city of Tapachula.
President Trump made clear Thursday he will do everything in his power to stop them, dispatching extra troops, threatening to shut border entirely and saying in an afternoon press conference the military would consider rocks thrown at active troops "firearms". He later said that no migrants would be shot by the American military, but that anyone throwing rocks would be arrested.
The issue is being amplified by the president with less than a week before the midterm elections, and various sources have implied or stated without proof that Democrats and progressive donors are somehow funding the caravan that is composed of individuals and families fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries in Central America. Others, including Mr Trump, have claimed — again, without proof — that the caravan includes "Middle Easterners". The president also indicated that he has no proof that Middle Easterners are in the caravan.
While numerous news outlets and watchdog groups have tried and failed to find proof for those claims — and none has been provided — Republicans clearly see a winning strategy in trying to tie Democrats to the caravan.
In the contentious Texas Senate race, for example, Senator Ted Cruz has attacked his Democratic opponent, Congressman Beto O'Rourke, and claimed that his campaign has been funding the migrant caravan. That statement was not substantiated with evidence that any of that financial support has occurred.
To see how the day unfolded, follow our live blog below.
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Not all Republican lawmakers have signed on to Donald Trump’s controversial rhetoric surrounding the migrant caravans travelling towards the US-Mexico border.
Speaking with reporters in Nashville, Senator Bob Corker said, “We all know what's happening. It's all about revving up the base, using fear to stimulate people to come out at the polls.”
The Tennessee Republican also rejected claims the caravans have been funded by Democrats, saying, “"I said, are you kidding me? If anybody's funding it, it's some Republican donor, because it has obviously turned into an election issue that has benefited the Republican side.”
As US national politics dominates headlines surrounding the migrant caravans travelling towards the nation's southern border, what follows are photographs and details about the people making the arduous journey in search of a safer, better life.
A Honduran migrant taking part in a caravan heading to the US, pushes a stroller with two children on his way from San Pedro Tapanatepec to Santiago Niltepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on October 29, 2018. - Strollers have become a luxury item for migrants in their journey, not only for the number of toddlers, but also because they can be used to carry their belongings. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images
Relatives react next to the coffin of Henry Adalid Diaz, a Honduran migrant who died during a clash with Mexican police at the Mexico-Guatemala border on Sunday while traveling with other migrants on the caravan of Central Americans en route to the U.S., at his home in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, October 31, 2018. Picture taken October 31, 2018. REUTER/Jorge Cabrera
Children play a bingo game given to them by Mexico's human rights organization, that teaches them about the rights of migrant children, as a thousands-strong caravan of Central Americans hoping to reach the U.S. border takes a rest day in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Thousands of weary Central American migrants in a caravan rested Wednesday in southern Mexico while their representatives tried to negotiate transportation hundreds of miles ahead to the capital, but by evening there was bad news: they'd be walking again the next day. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
JUCHITAN DE ZARAGOZA, MEXICO - OCTOBER 31: Members of the Central American caravan bathe at dusk in a camp on October 31, 2018 in Juchitan, de Zaragoza, Mexico. The group of migrants, many of them fleeing violence in their home countries, took a rest day on Wednesday and plan to resume their march towards the United States border on Thursday. As fatigue from the heat distance and poor sanitary conditions has set in, the numbers of people participating in the march has slowly dwindled but a significant group are still determined to get to the United Sates. On Monday an official said that the Pentagon will deploy up to 5,000 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to prevent members of the migrant caravan from illegally entering the country. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Many of the migrants making the trek from Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico are women and children escaping gang violence and economic despair.
Salvador Amilca Munoz Sanchez, 12, from El Salvador, bathes at the makeshift camp where a thousands-strong caravan of Central Americans hoping to reach the U.S. border is taking a rest day in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Thousands of weary Central American migrants in a caravan rested Wednesday in southern Mexico while their representatives tried to negotiate transportation hundreds of miles ahead to the capital, but by evening there was bad news: they'd be walking again the next day. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A little boy cries as he is led on a leash through a makeshift camp where a thousands-strong caravan of Central Americans hoping to reach the U.S. border takes a rest day in Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Thousands of weary Central American migrants in a caravan rested Wednesday in southern Mexico while their representatives tried to negotiate transportation hundreds of miles ahead to the capital, but by evening there was bad news: they'd be walking again the next day. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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