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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2018)
NATION/WORLD Thursday, November 15, 2018 East Oregonian Page 7A Migrant caravan groups arrive by hundreds at U.S. border By ELLIOT SPAGAT AND MARIA VERZA Associated Press TIJUANA, Mexico — Migrants in a caravan of Central Americans arrived in Tijuana by the hundreds Wednesday, getting their first glimpse of the robust U.S. military presence that awaits them after President Donald Trump ordered thou- sands of troops to the border. Several hundred peo- ple from the caravan got off buses and made their way to a shelter on the Mexican side near the border to line up for food. Doctors checked those fighting colds and other ailments while several dozen migrants, mostly sin- gle men, spent the night at a Tijuana beach that is cut by a towering border wall of metal bars. Several Border Patrol agents in San Diego watched them through the barrier separating the U.S. and Mexico. The first wave of migrants in the caravan, which became a central theme of the recent U.S. election, began arriving in Tijuana in recent days, and their num- bers have grown each day. The bulk of the main car- avan appeared to be about 1,100 miles from the border, but has recently been mov- ing hundreds of miles a day by hitching rides on trucks and buses. Many of the new arriv- als were waiting in Tijuana for the caravan leaders to arrive and provide guidance on their immigration options to the U.S., including seek- ing asylum. Some said they might cross illegally. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, meanwhile, vis- ited U.S. troops posted at the AP Photo/Gregory Bull Central American migrants and others look on along the border structure, in Tijuana, Mexico on Wednesday. border in Texas and said the deployment provides good training for war, despite criticism that the effort is a waste of taxpayer money and a political stunt. Most of the troops are in Texas, more than 1,500 miles from where the caravan is arriving. The first arrivals gener- ally received a warm wel- come from Tijuana, despite the fact that its shelter sys- tem to house migrants is at capacity. The city’s secre- tary of economic develop- ment has said there are about 3,000 jobs for migrants who want to stay in the city. Some residents came down to where the men were camped on a beach and gave them tacos to eat Wednesday. The Central Americans in the caravan are the latest migrants to arrive in Tijuana with the hope of cross- ing into the United States. Tijuana shelters in 2016 housed Haitians who came by the thousands after mak- ing their way from Brazil with plans to get to the U.S. Since then, several thousand Haitians have remained in Tijuana, finding work. Some have married local resi- dents and enrolled in local universities. “Mexico has been excel- lent; we have no complaint about Mexico. The United States remains to be seen,” said Josue Vargas, a migrant from Honduras who finally pulled into Tijuana on Wednesday after more than a month on the road. Ilse Marilu, 24, arrived in Tijuana late Tuesday with her 3-year-old daugh- ter, having joined the cara- van with a large contingent from San Pedro Sula, Hon- duras. She walked several miles Tuesday in a fruitless search for space in a migrant shelter before reaching the beach plaza. A Mexican couple dropped off a tent that her daughter and three other children used to sleep in as an evening chill set in. She planned to stay in Tijuana until caravan lead- ers arrived and offered help on how to seek asylum in the U.S. “We are going to enter through the front door,” Marilu said, insisting she would never try to enter the country illegally. A few people pitched tents at the Tijuana beach plaza while most, like Henry Salinas, 30, of Honduras, planned to sleep there in the open. He said that he intended to wait for thousands more in the caravan to arrive and that he hoped to jump the fence in a large group at the same time, overwhelming Border Patrol agents. “It’s going to be all against one, one against all. All of Central America against one, and one against Central America. ... All against Trump, and Trump against all,” he said. On Tuesday, a couple of dozen migrants scaled the steel border fence to cele- brate their arrival, chanting “Yes, we could!” One man dropped over to the U.S. side briefly as border agents watched from a distance. He ran quickly back to the fence. Tijuana’s head of migrant services, Cesar Palencia Chavez, said authorities offered to take the migrants to shelters immediately, but they initially refused. “They wanted to stay together in a single shelter,” Palencia Chavez said, “but at this time that’s not pos- sible” because shelters are designed for smaller groups and generally offer separate facilities for men, women and families. But he said that after their visit to the border, most were taken to shelters in groups of 30 or 40. On Wednesday, buses and trucks carried some migrants into the state of Sinaloa along the Gulf of California and farther north- ward into the border state of Sonora. The Rev. Miguel Angel Soto, director of the Casa de Migrante in the Sinaloa capital of Culiacan, said about 2,000 migrants had arrived in that area. He said the state government, the Roman Catholic Church and city officials in Escuinapa, Sinaloa, were helping the migrants. The priest said the church had been able to get “good people” to provide buses for moving migrants northward. He said 24 buses had left Escuinapa on an eight-hour drive to Navojoa in Sonora state. After midterms, Democratic hopefuls eye early-voting states By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. — Democrats pondering 2020 presidential bids in the aftermath of the midterm elections are pivoting from campaigning for other can- didates across the country to refocus on their own efforts, including moves in ear- ly-voting states like South Carolina. On Friday, former Massa- chusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is set to deliver a keynote address at an Urban League fundraiser in Charleston. It’s the latest visit to the state for Patrick, Massachusetts’ first black governor. He is among the more than two dozen Democrats whose names are being mentioned as potential White House contenders. Many of them, includ- ing U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Jeff Merkley, have already begun to visit South Caro- lina. Home to the first-in- the-South primary, South Carolina provides the first real opportunity for poten- tial White House contenders to see how their messages play to a significant popula- tion of minority voters. Ahead of the 2018 mid- terms, former Vice Pres- ident Joe Biden stumped in the state with Demo- cratic gubernatorial nomi- nee James Smith. Indepen- dent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at a “Medi- care for All” rally, orga- nized by the South Carolina arm of Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sanders’ 2016 White House bid. Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti campaigned with Demo- cratic congressional can- didate Sean Carrigan, tell- ing The Associated Press he got a warm reception from voters, who see him “as a fighter, someone who could potentially take down Donald Trump.” Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at a Charles- ton NAACP gathering. Some potential can- didates are making staff moves in the early state, too. On Wednesday, an adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti con- firmed to AP that South Car- olina strategist Phil Cham- bers had been hired by a political action commit- tee aligned with the mayor, Democratic Victory Fund. Chambers served as an adviser on Smith’s guber- natorial campaign, as well as chief of staff to the South Carolina Democratic Party. Saloni Sharma, a former staffer to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, came to South Carolina earlier this year to take over commu- nications for the state party. Out-of-market games only. Selec Other Warren staffers are working with state parties in other early-voting states, including Nevada and New Hampshire. Booker and Garcetti are expected to return to South Carolina in the com- ing weeks. Booker made his initial visit in October, speaking at a rally in the Democratic stronghold of Orangeburg and address- ing voters in Charleston. 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