A handful of long-time anti-illegal immigration activists showed up at the Guatemalan Consulate in San Bernardino Thursday morning with a plea: stop the caravan.
As some 3,000 Honduran asylum seekers travel to Guatemala on their way to Mexico, and eventually the United States, five activists visited with a representative from the consulate to hand-deliver a letter to Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, asking him to halt the caravan.
“We have nothing against Central America. But what we want to see is these countries take care of their own citizens,” said Robin Hvidston, executive director of the Claremont-based We the People Rising, which has members from across Southern California.
Robin Hvidston (left), executive director for We The People Rising and California state for The Remembrance Project, along with Raul Rodriguez Jr. protest outside the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The Remembrance Project member Raul Rodriguez Jr. (center) carries an American Flag as he protests with others outside the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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The Remembrance Project member Raul Rodriguez Jr. carries a letter addressed to Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales into the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
A family enters the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino as protestors stand outside Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
We The People Rising and California state for The Remembrance Project protest outside the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The Remembrance Projects Raul Rodriguez Jr. protests outside the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Rodriguez, along with other protestors, delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
A protestor stands outside the entrance of the Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The Remembrance Project member Raul Rodriguez Jr. (center) hands a letter to Guatemalan Consulate of San Bernardino representative Oscar Vargas (left) Thursday, October 18, 2018 in San Bernardino. Protestors delivered a letter to the consulate addressed to President Jimmy Morales demanding that migrant caravans be stopped from coming to the United States. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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“We hope we can be an influence in stopping the caravan before it proceeds further north,” Hvidston said afterwards.
“We want what is best for Guatemala and her citizens,” the letter states. But the United States must take care of their own first, it continued. “Our limited government resources must be reserved for our own needy citizens. Not foreign nationals.”
Vice Consul Leticia Pineda said her San Bernardino office will forward the letter to President Morales.
The caravan has become the latest political issue making headlines and taking space on President Donald Trumps Twitter feed. Trump threatened to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador if the caravan is not stopped.
We have today informed the countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments made to them will STOP (END)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2018
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The president next is turning to Mexico to ask “in the strongest of terms…to stop this onslaught — and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” he twitted Thursday.
….In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2018
Mexico had already announced that caravan members would need to show a passport or visa. Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno, Mexicos ambassador to Guatemala, met with leaders of the caravan Wednesday and warned them that people caught without proper documentation in Mexico would be deported, the Associated Press reported.
Morales, Guatemalas president, said Wednesday that while Central Americans are legally free to transit from country to country under a regional agreement, a “massive ingress of people without registering” puts Guatemala in a difficult position because its impossible to know who the people are and what may be the intentions of any of their leaders, the Associated Press reported.
Luis Arreaga, the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, posted a video message on Twitter that he hopes will be seen by migrants considering entering the U.S. illegally.
“The border of the United States never has been controlled as it is now. If you try to enter the United States, you will be detained and deported,” Arreaga said in Spanish. Addressing those already en route, he added: “Return to your country. Your attempt to migrate will fail.”
Mensaje del #EmbArreaga pic.twitter.com/S48hkFvji6
— US Embassy Guatemala (@usembassyguate) October 17, 2018
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